It’s All About Control

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Gospel of John 

September 17, 2024

It’s All About Control

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.”

John  15: 18-19

In my meditation on September 12, 2024, I Am Leaving You with a Gift, I noted that John uses the word, world, to denote the opposition to the Kingdom of God. Within the world are those who choose not to believe and obey Jesus, and there are the forces of evil that oppose the reign of God. It is into this world that Jesus sends his disciples.

In today’s world culture, more than any other time in my life, I am seeing the manifestation of Jesus’ prophesy: “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you” (John 15:18-19). Why does the world hate Christians? At the risk of oversimplifying a complex issue, in a word the answer is control. It’s all about control.

Within our fallen human nature, we long to live life on our own terms, we want to sing as our own personal anthem, My Way:

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I'll say it clear

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full

I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

I planned each charted course

Each careful step along the byway

And more, much more than this

I did it my way

 

My Way by Frank Sinatra

My Way lyrics © EMI Music Publishing,

The followers of Jesus willingly submit their lives to the will of God, and faithfully endeavor to do life God’s way. For a world bent on each person doing what seems right in their own eyes, a Christian becomes a threat and a target of hatred. On any given day, the issues discussed in newspapers and social media typically take positions opposed to the teaching of Scripture. Even so, the promise of Jesus is that while we are called to be in the world, but not of the world, we are not left alone.

My Takeaway: “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me” (John 15:26).

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.