Saturday Song; Janis Ian, "At Seventeen"

This is a song which many of us, including myself, can identify with. It's hard not being the cool kid and being part of the "in crowd." Teens put  so much stock in being fashionable and doing what all the popular kids do.

According to Randy Bachman, Janis Ian actually wanted to write "eighteen"but it didn't "sing" well. So she dropped a year from the title and had a hit in 1975. Listen to it here:

To be a Christian is to be ostracized. Jesus warned his disciples of this in Matthew 24:9 (BBE) when he said, "Then they will be cruel to you, and will put you to death: and you will be hated by all nations because of my name."

Likewise, Christ told his disciples in John 16:2 (BBE), "They will put you out of the Synagogues: yes, the time is coming when whoever puts you to death will have the belief that he is doing God's pleasure."

By the way, the synagogue was the centre of the social life of Jewish society. To be disfellowshipped was to be an outcast and cut off from family and friends.

Why then are non Christians so hostile toward us? Christ answered that in John 15:19 (BBE) when he said, "If you were of the world, you would be loved by the world: but because you are not of the world, but I have taken you out of the world, you are hated by the world."

As it happened, the Lord's disciples were hated wherever they preached. Paul, a later convert, was slated for many hardships, as we read in Acts 9:15 and 16 (BBE). "But the Lord said, (to Ananias) 'Go without fear: for he is a special vessel for me, to give to the Gentiles and kings and to the children of Israel the knowledge of my name: For I will make clear to him what troubles he will have to undergo for me.'"

So don't feel abandoned or betrayed by God when people mock or shun you for your faith. They did so to Christ and all who believed in him.

On Monday, if Christ hasn't returned yet, I hope to post about how Christians are transitioning but into something wonderful.