“Anyone who hates Me also hates My Father. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate Me and My Father. This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated Me without cause.’” (John 15:23-25 NLT)
Does it bother you if someone doesn’t like you? It used to bother me. I wanted everyone to like me, not only because I was insecure, but I wrongly believed if they didn’t like me they’d never let me share Jesus with them. The reality is, often because they already knew I had a relationship with Jesus, they automatically wrote me off as a weirdo they didn’t like. They didn’t have to know me not to like me. And that’s completely okay. Jesus told us in the verses above that it would be that way.
Jesus wasn’t a nice guy in the traditional sense. He was kind, loving, caring, forgiving, all the things a good man is and would be, but “nice” guys don’t buck the system, they don’t stand against the prevailing winds of doctrine held by the powers that be. I’m in no way comparing Jesus with Donald Trump, but that’s exactly why people hate Mr. Trump.
He’s not God, a Savior, or the Messiah, he’s just a man (in my humble opinion) who is trying to do the right thing for the right reason at the right time. Is he perfect? Of course not, he’s a man with feet of clay just like the rest of us. But I believe he’s God’s appointed for such a time as this, to do things no one else was willing to do.
The late Timothy Keller wrote: “Jesus wasn’t just a nice guy who did good in the world. You don’t crucify nice guys. You crucify threats.” If your life isn’t a threat to anyone, why not? If your holiness of life isn’t challenging anyone, why not? If your socio-economic, yes, even your political views aren’t causing the hair on the back of anyone’s neck to rise, why not?
Jesus was loved by the people, but certainly not by the government, nor by most of the Jews who were the predominant religious “law” of Jesus’ day. Jesus wasn’t sent to make everyone happy; He was sent to be and tell the Truth. Truth divides, separates, causes division, even among friends and family. That doesn’t mean we have to be cantankerous or contentious, deliberately stirring people up for the sake of being unpleasant, even mean.
Jesus wasn’t mean, but He told the Truth, and Truth always separates the sheep from the goats, the lost from the found, the truth-bearer from the phony. In the day in which we live there is no place for Truth to hide. If we’re bearers of the message of the Risen Savior we’re by virtue of our convictions, allowing the Lord to set us apart for His sacred use, thus, positioning ourselves for criticism, complaint, persecution, and injustice.
It’s already happening all over the world and is coming to a neighborhood near me (and you) in the coming days. It’s going to get a lot harder for us and those who come behind us, to hide behind our niceness. We’re either people of substance, willing to lay down our lives for our Savior, or we’re an empty shell with a painted happy face.
Jesus wasn’t simply a “nice guy” in His day, nor can we be in ours. We’re holy warriors willing to lay down our lives for our Savior or we’re frauds. I just can’t be nice about it!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 