I’m not sure that I have a devotion as much as questions about this passage.  My general experience as a Christian is that when I am practicing authentic Christianity, it opens the door of my heart to others and it opens other’s hearts to me. I do not think that I have experienced someone hating me because of my faith.  

I have been called a puritan by friends at work because I didn’t go to the “extra-curricular” activities after we were finished closing down the restaurant, but I don’t think I have experienced hate because of my faith.  I am thankful for this, but when I read scripture, the teachings of Jesus and the experience of the early Christians show a different expectation.  

This leads me to think, it is either because I live in a place where Christianity is valued and if that is the case, my response is thankfulness that I am not persecuted. Or, maybe I have unknowingly become part of the world to such an extent that the world doesn’t feel threatened by my faith.  I guess the truth is that it is probably a combination of both of these thoughts.  

The questions that come to mind are simple: Am I living an authentic faith before God that reflects both the love of God and the holiness of God that frustrates the world?  and in what way am I enabling the world’s systems (those things against God’s Kingdom) to flourish in me and around me without challenge?