By
Allen White
The student is not above the teacher, nor a
servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers,
and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called
Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
Matthew 10:24-25
There’s a bit of name calling that goes
on around our house. Our kids are preschool to elementary school age. The
siblings try to outdo each other. Sometimes by achieving. Other times by
putting people down. It’s childish. And, they’re children.
Sometimes the conversation will go this
way, “You’re a baby.”
“I am not a baby.”
Then, the wise father steps in, “Son,
are you a baby?”
“No.”
“Then what does it matter what he
says.” The message kind of sinks in, but nobody likes to be called a name.
In Junior High, I certainly didn’t
appreciate being called “Wide Load.” Stop laughing. I had a good 30 year
stretch of being thin. I’ve reverted a little.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to seek and
save the lost. He never spoke an unkind word. He never sinned. Jesus lived His
life exactly right. Yet, He was referred to as the “prince of demons,” Beelzebub,
himself.
Jesus’ point here is that none of His
disciples in the first century or in the twenty-first century are any better
than He is. After all, we’re not perfect. We have sinned. And, we’ve uttered
unkind words at times. If we offend someone, then we should expect a rebuke.
But, sometimes as a believer people just don’t like us.
Who we are simply repels them. They
don’t even know us, yet they don’t like us. This is a built-in mechanism. The
enemy doesn’t want a believer getting close to an unbeliever. What we have
might rub off.
Following Christ requires a thick skin.
In the end, we win. In the meantime, things can get a little dirty at the
bottom of the pile. The answer is not retaliation. The answer is extending
God’s grace (1
Peter 4:10). The answer is Jesus.
Who could you just do without? Who is
that person that no matter what you can’t do right by them? They’ve put up
quite a resistance. What if God was part of their life? But, they go to church…
What if God was part of their life? Could He be using you to reach them?
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