Have we ever lived just one week of life where we discovered we didn’t need to make personal adjustments? Isn’t there always something in the education or new in the awareness which requires we bid farewell to a trait and hello to a new concept? We no more than get used to the new us and, ta da, there is the call for the additionally new, restructured us.
Not only do we desire to improve, grow up, and keep current on our education/information, we desperately want to fit in. This self-at-the-center desire is a buried land mine of trouble. As we grow to be like Jesus we will find we fit in with some we would have never guessed. Too, we will as quickly discover we have new found disapproval ratings off the charts.
Jesus warned us of being liked by everyone; yet such a hunger tends to rule so many. How we want to prove him wrong. He was clear that his followers would find extreme opposition in the world; yet we try to defy such rationale and hold hands with everyone. This won’t work. Popularity was not a fruit of Jesus. Look at his earthly walk.
We have many wonderful things going among, within, and about us. Being courageous may not be one of our best. Exactly as in Jesus day, the religious-leading, proof-texting, error-branding loudest are a nuisance to the body of Christ today….always in the name of truth. If you are a young leader and you think you are going to serve God by keeping everybody happy you may have already surrendered your commitment to truth. Which of the prophets did they not kill? Jesus was not an exception, either.
I like people. And, I like being liked. As a matter of fact, being disliked hurts my heart more than most things. But such is a must in the kingdom of the King. We cannot and will not avoid this issue. Being prideful and haughty about doctrinal stances or envisioning work for the Christ is very wrong. Being cowardly and self-preserving in the presence of the religiously boisterous or the worldly raucous is equally tragic. Take heed, good leader; you will not escape the need to be thoroughly courageous against the desire to be liked by everyone in camp. It just won’t and can’t happen.
3 comments:
Very good advise!
Terry, you're dead on. The biggest hindrance to me speaking to someone about Jesus is not my lack of knowledge on the subject; it's the fear of what they will think of me. And I am ashamed of that truth.
Thank you for the encouragment. How often our lives are centered around what we think others think about us. I pray I will not continue to fall into this trap and that I will focus more on what God thinks of me than of what others think. Psalm 73!
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