Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Luke 6:22, NIV

These days, in fact for most of the last century, we would have to agree that it hasn’t always been “cool” to be a Christian. Of course, among other Christians, we think it is really cool for our brothers and sisters to live out their faith. We often admire others who do so well and wish we could do as they do. But, in the face of public pressure, most will shy away from standing strong for Christ. This is not new. It was the problem Jesus addressed when He dictated letters to seven churches in Asia toward the end of the first century. They were pulling back from bold Christianity and adopting a cold liturgy in its place. They had ceased speaking out against sinful practices that God clearly condemns. They were tolerant of evil in their midst. Why?

The reason was that they feared the hostile opposition of those ungodly people. Today, too, Christians are intimidated into being silent. We are frightened from speaking out against the pride and arrogance of those who insist that they are better than God, more significant than God, and to be more obeyed than God. We tremble in terror at the thought of speaking in front of our colleagues and even family members calling all men and women to a life empowered by God’s Spirit and forgiven of sin by Christ’s sacrifice. We worry that somebody won’t like us anymore. We fear the same thing we did when we were thirteen—being unpopular.

But the Lord never promised us popularity with people. In fact, just the opposite.  He told us that those who hate Him will hate us instinctively. But God did promise us that we would be popular with Him—we will please Him when we embrace Christ as Savior and Lord and obey that same Lord’s directive to make disciples. No, we are not promised popularity with people, but the thing He does promise us is far more valuable—in fact, it is priceless, beyond compare.

I pray this day, for you, is one wherein you seek God’s boldness to share hope for eternity with someone who will otherwise miss it.

Lord, I want to live to please You and follow Your commands. Please lead all my coworkers and my students to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Thank You. Amen.

Copyright Dr. Dan Elliott.

Dr. Elliott is a lifetime retired member of Christian Educators who lives in California.