To Hate God the Father

To Hate God the Father

He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

John 15:23

As Christ continues to prepare His disciples for the persecution which they would encounter in their proclamation of the Gospel, He makes a categorical statement which serves as our text for today.  We live in an atmosphere where such a statement is abhorrent because of it’s exclusive nature.  Christ says, ‘He who hates Me hates my Father also.’  This ranks with His other categorical statement in John 14:6, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’    We perhaps tend to avoid emphasizing such statements as these because they highlight the fact that Christ made claims which are diametrically opposed to the spirit of the age in which we live.  We are left with the choice of either simply stating what He has declared as truth, or trimming the message in order to seem more appealing.  In good conscience we must proclaim His message.  Christ says that if we hate Him, we also hate His Father.  According to Christ Himself, we cannot claim to love God without loving Christ.  We are not bashful in our association with Christ.  He has done all that is necessary to bring us into a right relation with God, His Father.  We owe Him everything.  Regardless of where that allegiance lands us in the eyes of a hostile world, we will cling to Christ.  We love Him and therefore love God.

O, God our Father,
we rejoice in You and in Christ Your Son.
We praise You that in looking to Him,
we see all there is to see of You.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning