They Hate ME... is that a GOOD thing?

G. Campbell Morgan wrote: "If you have no adversaries, you had better move out and find the places where you get them."

Jesus Christ put is another way, "They hated me, they will hate you."

One way to gauge your effectiveness in this life is by measuring the number of enemies that you have, in Corinthians 15 Paul described his situation as ,"battling wild beasts", and "taking his life in his hands daily."

Paul was fearless when it came to preaching the gospel. He understood in a very real way that it would polarize some, it would push some away, but for many they would hear the words of eternal life and be saved! Even if he did have to gain some enemies along the way, he knew that not only was it worth it, it was his calling and it was what Jesus expected of him.

As modern day Christians living in the USA our lives can be described as comfortable and easy. Our biggest fear is having someone find out that we are a Christian and that we do go to church. And that's fine if your goal is to never be laughed at, ostracised, challenged or ridiculed -- its just not very good if we are for taking Jesus' words to heart during the Great Commission to go out and preach the gospel and make disciples in every corner of the globe.

If the church in America is going to remain relevant and make a difference in the world like we have been called to, we are going to have to get over our fear of being disliked.