“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” Jn 15:18–20
This year, I turned twenty, a first-year university student, just beginning a new chapter of life. Before entering university, I often found myself worrying: “What if my classmates or seniors don’t like me because I talk about the truth? What if they say something bad?” These questions quietly lingered in the back of my mind. Then one day during worship, a verse I had read many times before stood out to me with unusual clarity. Even after returning home, I looked it up again in the Bible, underlined it, and read it over and over. The words—explaining that being hated by the world for preaching the gospel means I have been chosen by God—brought deep comfort and resolved the quiet fears I hadn’t been able to voice to anyone.
With a once-fearful heart now strengthened, I am learning to lay down my worries. For God has given us a sure promise: “If they obeyed my words, they will obey yours also.”