This is tough for us to grasp sometimes. Most people want to be liked. Christians are no exception. Usually believers are actually pretty nice folk. Unfortunately, needing to be liked can be a trap. Jesus was never in bondage to making sure people liked him or accepted him. He went around speaking the truth without ever being in bondage by the need to convince. He spoke the truth and moved on. We can learn a lesson.
"Not of this world." That's a phrase that we struggle with sometimes. It seems (I leave room here that I could be wrong) to me that it' a phrase that doesn't seem to resonate as sharply among believers as it did 20 or 30 years ago. We want to reach out but I'm afraid that in our efforts to be "seeker friendly" we've found an excuse to comfort our need to be liked.
Jesus said that we would be hated. Isn't it interesting that you can talk about God as long as you keep it generic but the name of Jesus is offensive. Peter wrote (1st Peter 2:8) that Jesus is "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense" to unbelievers.
The challenge for us is to not cave in out of our need to be accepted or to become hateful ourselves when we are hated. We are not of this world. We are pilgrims passing through but pilgrims with a very important assignment -- to share the love of Jesus in a lost and dying world.
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