Author: admin

Our words, regardless of how pious sounding they are, are inconsequential compared to our actions. It is easy to say that our walk with God is a priority, but then we must examine our actions to determine the value of our speech.

There are many people who claim that following Christ is their life’s priority. However, every time their parents disagree with what they are doing, these same people compromise what God told them. Or there are those who want to go with Jesus, but they are concerned about how it will affect their children. So they don’t go.

Sadly there are many self-professing Christians who would adamantly proclaim their loyalty to Christ, yet they continually compromise their faith every time a family member disagrees with them.

To truly be “worthy” of Christ means He is your priority at all times, in all places, under every circumstance, regardless of what other people say. Even if your chief critics are your family.

Christians can sometimes be naive. We still believe that when we do “nice” things, people will naturally like and appreciate us. That is often far from the truth! Jesus, with all of His love and grace, always spoke the truth, however unpleasant it might be to hear.

Jesus assured His followers that He was extremely divisive. You could not be lukewarm in your opinion of Jesus. This means that even our own families may come into disagreement with us over our beliefs and actions.

This has been the Waterloo for many a Christian. We recoil at the thought of conflict with our family over issues concerning our faith. Few things have the potential to bring us so much pain as family members who oppose our beliefs and actions.

We have been forewarned. Following Jesus will not be easy! Are you still ready to get out of your boat?

One of the most sobering truths Jesus shared with His disciples is this: the eagerness with which you identify with Christ will be reflected in how readily Jesus will be to identify His life with you.

There are some who are embarrassed of their walk with Christ. They keep it a private, secret affair. They never speak up for Christ. They do not identify themselves with His cause. They never speak up for His righteousness sake.

Yet when these same people face needs in their own lives, they anxiously expect Christ to rush to their aid. They fully expect Christ to embrace them upon their entry into heaven.

Jesus was sending His twelve disciples out as sheep among wolves. He knew they would face opposition and criticism. Jesus understood it would be tempting to remain silent and to blend in with the darkness around them. So Jesus gave this strong warning. The passion with which they identified with Christ would be reflected in the way Jesus identified with them.

For some that is a sobering thought.

While it is true that we ought to maintain a holy reverence for almighty God, we must also remember one other important truth. It is that God loves us infinitely. He values us greatly. He knows us intimately.

Jesus pointed out some ordinary sparrows to His disciples. He noted that they were considered preeminently ordinary and lacking in value. Yet God knew every one. God saw when they suffered harm. He cared about the humblest of His creatures. If God, Jesus explained, cared about a tiny, ordinary bird, then how much more did He care for us? God knows the number of hairs on our head. He knows when we are hurting and when we are experiencing need.

In times of want, we can forget just how much God cares for us. We can be tempted to assume that God must have overlooked us, or be preoccupied with more urgent, important matters. But God’s own Son made certain to express to us His Father’s heart: God loves you! He knows you. He is always aware of what you are experiencing. You can trust Him.

Too often we fear the wrong people and the wrong things.

People ought not to intimidate Jesus’ disciples. The worst that people can do is harm us physically. Even Satan cannot harm us apart from God’s sovereign will. Why is it then that we fear people and demons so much, and we fear God so little? People continually pronounce that we ought not to fear God, that He is a God of love. Conversely, we are encouraged to go to great lengths to appease and please people.

Yet it was Jesus Himself who encouraged us to consider who we ought to maintain a healthy fear of. God has far more ability to express His displeasure to us than does Satan. It is God will determine people’s eternal fates. It is God who will judge the living and the dead. It is God who will hold people accountable for their words and actions. The thought of standing before a righteous God as we give a full accounting of our lives ought to cause us to tremble.

Could it be that you have feared people too much and God too little?

God’s words to you are to be shared. When God speaks to you in secret, proclaim those truths to others. What God says to you in secret could be life changing for others!

But what if you don’t hear anything in secret? What if when you mount your rooftop, you have nothing to shout? Some people are too busy climbing to their rooftops that they don’t take the time to enter the secret place to receive a fresh word from the Lord. Jesus did not tell His disciples to simply preach their own sermons from the rooftops. He instructed them to preach what they had heard. If you don’t hear anything from Christ, you will have nothing to preach.

Before you mount the pulpit, or soap box, make your way to the secret place. People need to hear what you heard, not what you thought!

Truth always prevails, eventually.

Jesus assured us we would be lied about, slandered misrepresented, and misunderstood. Yet eventually truth would be vindicated. In Jesus’ case, it did not occur until after He had died.

Yet though we must at times suffer the cruel injustice of falsehood, we can take comfort in knowing that we side with truth. It has a way of ultimately triumphing even in the most oppressive of environments.

That ought to not only encourage us to side with truth, but also to ensure we never trust in a lie. For we, too, may be seduced to think we can live a lie before others. We can be tempted to assume that we can conceal our sin from the light of day. Yet the truth inevitably comes out, for everyone. That is why we don’t need to fear those who rely upon falsehood. They may seem intimidating, and even invincible, for a time, but they function on a shaky foundation. They may plot and bluster and threaten and intimidate, but ultimately the truth will bring them down. It always does.

Jesus, God’s only Son, is fully prepared to share His inheritance with us. He is even now preparing a place for us in His heavenly home. But, He will also share with us the reproach and hostility from His enemies with us as well. We can’t have one without the other.

We are simply servants of the King. We are His ambassadors. We speak and act not on our own account or initiative but on His. So it ought not to surprise us when we are treated in a similar manner as Jesus was.

Jesus was perfectly righteous and good. Yet He was accused of being Satan himself! Imagine such a false understanding! Imagine being so badly misunderstood. And yet, we can imagine. For it has most certainly happened to us as well.

We try to help someone, and they are offended that we are “judging” them. We offer God’s truth and we are criticized for being self righteous and superior. Even when we do nothing, people accuse us of unkind actions. It can be extremely frustrating to be misunderstood!

Yet no one was more understood than Jesus. Ironically no one spoke more truth or was more consistent than He. And so He warned us, that we could expect the same. You are not above your master. You deserve no special exemption. Examine Jesus’ life carefully so you know exactly what you can expect in your own.

Considering how “nice” most Christians are, it’s surprising how angry people can become at them!

Christians naturally want to people to like and accept them. They tend to value relationships. Yet it ought never to surprise disciples of Jesus when people oppose and even hate them. Jesus warned us it would be so.

One of the great paradoxes is that a Messiah who embodied love in His very existence should engender such hate toward Him. Yet, though Christ upholds love, He also espouses light. And darkness cannot stand light, no matter how loving it might be!

Even as Jesus was loving sinners, sinners were nailing Him to a cross.

Likewise, Jesus warned His followers that, just as people hated Him, they would despise His followers also. We must always keep in mind that their hostility is not toward us, but toward our Lord (Unless of course you are behaving like a jerk!). While we ought to do everything within our power to be at peace with others, we must also resign ourselves to the truth that as long as we live in a world that is permeated with spiritual darkness, there will be those who take offense at our Lord, and at us.

One of the most disconcerting realities of being a disciple of Jesus is the conflict it often generates with our own family.

Typically our family loves us more than anyone else. They are our blood relations and have known us all of our life. Yet Jesus is divisive. He always has been. You cannot sit on the fence with Christ. You are either for Him or against Him. You are either hot or cold. And, when you are for Jesus, you will inevitably invite opposition and criticism upon yourself, even if it is from your own family.

One might be able to endure critiques from colleagues and even friends. But often barbs from family hurt deeply. We might think that God would spare us such pain in response to our desire to serve Him. But Jesus understands misunderstanding. His own brothers thought Him an embarrassment at one stage of His life. But it did not deter Him. And, in time, His family embraced Him and His mission.

Don’t be surprised if you have family members who do not support your obedience to Christ.