“Even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’” [1]
The Ott’s, the Page’s, the Dinwittie’s, Art and Pastor Meyer… what did these people have in common? They all had a personal relationship with God. God was real to them, and they wanted God to be real to those around them. I was just a teenager then. I remember thinking, “How do they tolerate being treated like they are weird? Everybody’s trying to fit in, but they’re purposely whole-heartedly going after Jesus, and they don’t seem to care if people think that they are weird.”
Well, fast forward a few years, and guess what? God made Himself real to me too. I wanted the world to know about Jesus. On the extreme spectrum of responses to my sharing about Jesus with people, I met one man who threatened to beat me with a baseball bat and another who threatened to shoot me with a gun. These men had so much pent-up anger in them towards God. The last thing they wanted to happen in their day was to meet a Jesus-person. So, they took out their anger towards “god” and towards religion on me. Thankfully, the Lord spared me from harm on both accounts.
Is being insulted for the sake of trying to help others a bad thing? Apparently not, because even Jesus experienced reproach for the sake of trying to bring the Kingdom of God to people here on earth. Besides, sometimes the people who are experiencing the greatest frustration and anger with God are the very ones who are so close to falling in love with Him. They just need the right person to show up at the right moment in their life, and they will receive Christ, be forever changed, and be forever saved. …And THEY, like ME, will join the growing number of people who have experienced the REAL GOD not religion. Praise the Lord!
[1] Romans 15:3
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