Why Would Christians Want the World to Love Them? | Word on Fire
Am I ready? I probably whine and worry too much, but the author of the above is correct: that the non-Christian world would dislike Christians like me should be expected. We were told to expect it, after all, and now that I think about it, this dislike is no more than the first reaction to a massive challenge against how the non-Christian world thinks. Since that challenge is so radical, i.e., the gospel, then of course the reaction would be one of deep suspicion and a lot of opposition. Something worth noting is that this should not have been necessary in previously Christian societies, but that ball was dropped and so here we are.
On a personal note, I have some experience in the challenge of a cross and, thankfully, embracing it. I went from asking for the cross to be taken away to, finally, embracing that it is a necessary burden for Love's sake. Not that the cross itself is the end-all. It simply means that struggle that comes with striving for something truly important. For me, it was for my loved ones, and thankfully, something I read about awhile back finally got through my thick skull: abandoning my cross - my post - meant that people I love would have to carry it for me, more than their share.
So it seems to me, reading the above article, that we cannot let fear of opposition - and any desire to fit in - deter us from that commission to evangelize the world. After all, when we stop preaching the gospel, others preach their own doctrines, which have brought and continues to bring sorrow and disaster to the world around us, even inside our own homes to our families.
We may not live long enough to see the end result of our evangelization, but we can plainly see the result of our lack of evangelization. So persecuted or not, whether softly or at the point of a knife, we can't drop the ball. We've let this madness go on for so long already. The world needs Christ. There is no relief from the evil and madness otherwise.
