Offensive
By Sarah Walker
…and you will be hated by all for my [Jesus’] name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 10:22 (ESV)
By Sarah Walker
…and you will be hated by all for my [Jesus’] name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 10:22 (ESV)
I find that it can become so easy to
get caught up in what others say about me. When I give the opinions of other
people the utmost credibility, I find myself needing more positive feedback and
internalizing negative remarks. But when I look to the teachings of the Bible,
I repeatedly see that I’m supposed to care the most about God’s opinion of me.
Even if that means other people will misunderstand or hate me, as today’s verse
says.
Our responsibility as believers,
first and foremost, is to seek the glory of God, which essentially means that we
are more concerned with God’s reputation than our own. When we do this,
however, our lives become offensive. Not to Jesus, but to the world. When we
are despised by others for following Jesus, the only way forward is to live
with an eternal perspective, recognizing that Jesus is our Friend, our Savior
and our King.
Despite this, sometimes it seems the
path of least resistance is to back off from our commitment to Jesus. We become
concerned with our own reputation and don’t want to appear too “fanatical” or
“passionate.” We’d rather just blend in, not make too many waves, and be
well-liked by everyone. But that’s not what God is asking us to do. He isn’t
asking us to give Him only the parts of ourselves that are inoffensive to
everyone else. Instead, He wants every part of who we are to be devoted to Him…even
when He asks us to follow Him and do something that requires risking our own
reputation.
But amazingly, Jesus doesn’t ask us
to blindly follow Him. He will be victorious in the end, but
He also has promised that He will be with us in every trial we face today. Even
when people hate us. When we hang our identity on the opinions of other people
instead of on the opinions of God, we find the ground we are standing on is
shaky at best. Our intrinsic value seems constantly under attack, and we never
seem to be able to do enough to earn unconditional approval. But in these times
of attack, Jesus pulls us close, promises us eternal life, and promises that He
will be with us through every hard time that comes our way, even when our lives
offend the people around us.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
Are you more concerned
about offending other people or about following Jesus?
2.
How have you seen God
provide for you when your life was offensive to others?
Sarah is married to Scott and is a
full-time mom to their two young sons. She and Scott are involved in a small
group focused on prayer and are expecting to welcome their third child in
January.
