Luke 9:23-27 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
If we follow Christ, then we must be willing to bear His cross. There are many people who have made and will continue to make certain trifling aspersions about me and my Lord. Many doubt the validity of my salvation. Others doubt the existence of Jesus Christ. Some claim to believe, but doubt I am eligible for the gift of salvation and forgiveness. The devil loves contention. He thrives on it! When you are serving the Lord, you will face all manner of doubt and hate, but you must bear it in the name of the Lord. When you are walking in Light, God’s enemies become yours and vice versa. You see, before anyone ever hated us or persecuted us or cursed us, they did such to our Lord. The Lord says in Romans 3:10, ‘As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;’ None righteous, No, Not ONE!! None of us are perfect. “To err is to be human“
I, myself, am not one of those so-called Christians who claim to be “holier than thou.” You know the type that looks down on everyone else and thinks nothing about themselves stinks. That’s not me. I will not claim to you that my transformation has been instant, because it hasn’t. I, like all Christians, am a work in progress – we continue to be transformed until transcendence. Until our souls leave this wretched flesh, we will continue to be plagued by sin and the desire to commit it – that’s a fact. If anyone tells you different, they are lying to you and themselves. Your ability to control your actions will get stronger and you will sin less but you will not be sinless. Only Jesus was sinless as a human being. The naysayers and haters will always look for any faults they can find in a Christian. Any time you do anything negative, they will point their fingers and say “See, he’s no Christian.” Do not be discouraged by this, brothers and sisters. Let them point. Let them talk. God knows our hearts and only He can judge us. I said it before and I will say it again, it’s always the guilty ones that point their fingers. Such is part of the cross we must bear for Christ.
I am but a babe in my walk with Jesus. For us new Christians, it is even harder sometimes. Many of the people who knew us before we got saved, seriously doubt our conversion – especially if we were known for being criminals and consorting with unsavory characters. They think we have an angle or we’re running some kind of hustle or game. Such is part of our cross to bear for Christ. The same type of people thought the same thing about Jesus. It takes time to change public perception. We will never gain the confidence of everyone. There will always be haters and naysayers no matter what we do, but still we must soldier on and bear our cross. We do not bear it alone. We have Jesus and each other to ease the road. I say to you, brothers and sisters, bear the cross with honor and dignity with humility and poise. Do not be ashamed to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the haters talk and point fingers and count it all joy for you are suffering for Christ. Hallelujah. No, we can never be sinless, yet we are still clean for we have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. Amen.
I Peter 3:13-15 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
May God bless and keep you!
Love in Christ,
Randall