Shine Your Light Despite…

Have you ever noticed as a disciple of Christ, the better you do, the more people don’t particularly like you? They may respect you, but they do not really want to be your friend? This can be quite frustrating in a world that is touting the benefits of teamwork, acceptability, congenial and community behaviors on one hand and you trying to be a ‘people person’ on the other. What most disciples of Christ may be tempted to do is compromise in certain areas of their lives in order to get appreciated and liked. The most famous verse to support this action is: “…I have become all things to all people so that I may by all means save some” (1Corinthians 9:22b). However, in their quest to win more through their freedom they fail to balance the Scripture: “For you are called to freedom, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13). If love is the excuse to win as many as we can to Christ, then as disciples we must be reminded that love “finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth” (1Corinthians 13:6). If your compromising in order to win more to the Lord’s side negates the principles of God, it is not worth it as you are in danger of losing your own soul to the lie!

One question we must ask ourselves when faced with such hatred is, why do we presume people will like us? Why are we sad and offended when people don’t appreciate or like us? The reality is that the WAY of the Lord has always elicited contention in a dark and fallen world. The Bible expressly tells us that darkness covers the earth and the people but we as light must shine in spite of it (Isaiah 60:2). Since we are light, as children of God, darkness will not and cannot befriend or like us; that will be undermining its nature! The only way it can accept us is if we exchange our light for its form of light, which is darkness. So as not to be fooled into doing this, Christ warned us beforehand: “Take care then, that the light in you is not darkness” (Luke 11:35). We cannot afford to give any part of our light to darkness or we will be in danger of our whole body being overrun overtime. The world may hate you but it cannot ignore you. This had being the trend from Genesis to Revelation: God had always chosen the rejects of the world to showcase His strength and faithfulness. Same thing happened to our Master. As much as the world hates Him, they cannot afford to ignore Him. We must understand that as long as we are in step with the world we will ultimately be out of step with Jesus Christ. In His prayer for us, the Lord said: “I have given them Your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). Friend you are in good company. They hated our Master despite the awesome, unprecedented and amazing things He did, thus, they will hate you too. But let them hate you because you are a follower of Christ and the bearer of His truth and Light, and not because you are a hypocrite. May the God of encouragement and endurance strengthen your heart to continue to shine your light despite the terrible darkness that covers the earth and the people in Jesus Christ name. God bless you.