My Daily Pause

John Identifies the Christ – ~17th Century – Ottavio Vannini

Then:

“John is crazy!”

“Jesus is a drunk!”

The Pharisees rejected God’s righteousness no matter what form it came in. (Luke 7:31-35) John the Baptist was like a hermit and Jesus was very social.

Now:

“Those Christians are too exclusive! (or mean!)”

“Those Christians are hypocrites!”

If the Bible proves anything, it proves people need more than 2000 years to change. At least … they haven’t changed yet.

The Challenge:

It has become very difficult to speak negatively about a number of social issues. When one tries to show what the Bible says about a matter, he is called names. Even if we try to silently live a godly lifestyle and lead by example, there is disdain.

“You don’t drink any alcohol?”

“You don’t wear a bikini in public?”

Those trying to live like a Christian should expect to become conspicuous. They should also plan to be insulted when the time comes to take a stand. Even Jesus had to endure it!

Once again, the Master Teacher shows us how to live through his own life. No less than ten times we can read about how he dealt with insults and indignities:

• He was called a glutton (Luke 7:33-35)
• He was called a winebibber
• They said he cast out demons by the prince of demons (Matthew 9:34)
• They called him Beelzebul (Matthew 10:25)
• They called him a sinner (John 9:24)
• They said he had a demon (John 7:20)
• They said he was a Samaritan (John 8:48).
• They charged him with violating the Sabbath (Matthew 12:2)
• They referred to him as a “deceiver” (Matthew 27:63)
• They accused him of friendship with publicans and sinners (Luke 15:2)

In Luke 7:32, Jesus compared these kind of people to spoiled brats:

“This game is too happy! It’s not realistic.”

“This game is too sad! It’s no fun.”

Children only want what feels good, it takes an adult to want what is right.

What to do?

The bottom line is that people will not change until they want to. The best thing we can do (in fact all we are asked to do) is to show them God’s way and live it for ourselves.

Question: What is the worse confrontation you have had to face trying to live in a godly way? Was there any long term effect on how you live?

 ¹¹ The wise are patient;
they will be honored if they ignore insults. – Proverbs 19:11

Godly people will not “have a chip on their shoulder” nor do they take insults and injustices to heart.

James gives us the New Testament pattern (James 1:19-20).  …let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;²⁰for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.