The Wrong Road
Posted by: stuartdelony in Blogroll, Jesus, god, grace, judgemental, life, people, pharisee, reject, religion
As Christians we are promised in the Bible that we will face persecution and the world will hate us. Jesus said:
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:18
But my question [to American Christians] is this: Does the world hate us because of Christ within us? Or does it hate us because we have a tenancy to act like pompous, religious, harsh, judgmental, know-it-alls?
I think we live with a false justification that if we act judgmental and non-Christlike it is okay because the world rejects us. And the Bible says we’ll be rejected. But, we aren’t called to make the world reject us. It should be simply be the existence of Christ within us and the path to which he calls us to walk that will bring rejection. Not the other way around. We’ve gone down the wrong road and forgotten who we were following in the first place.
Am I wrong?
Sphere: Related Content
Entries (RSS)
I think that you are onto something here Stuart.
I have seen (and been one of) far too many incorrectly self-righteous Christians who are quick to claim that the world hates them because of their faith. When in actuality they are being ostracized and insulted because of the chip they are proudly carrying on their shoulder.
Another item to ponder on this topic. Why do we call ourselves a Christian nation when we are clearly not? Hmmm…
I think you’re right. Often, we act like holier-than-thou jerks and when people hate us, we congratulate ourselves. I would say that throughout my life more people have disliked me because of the Jennifer-in-me than because of the Jesus-in-me.
I like the way you put that: “The ________ -in-me rather than the Jesus-in-me.”