Don’t Be Surprised!

These sobering words of Jesus have been a reminder for His followers over the last two thousand years that truly voicing and demonstrating His teaching is unlikely to win many friends among those in the world, because the ruling spirits of this and every previous age hate the presentation of the Kingdom of God.

The sense that many Christians have today is that the intensity of opposition to the truths of the Bible is growing markedly. A recent report, from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, has recommended that any religious belief that holds the value of an unborn child above the right of abortion, or that shows preference for traditional marriage, or that promotes the reality of biological gender, is a human right violation and should be dealt with by state intervention.

The tide of opinion among the religious leaders in the time of Jesus was clearly against Him. The tide of influential progressive opinion is still against Him today, and against those who seek to express His teaching. Of course, our words need to be offered with unbounded grace. Our aim should never be to offend. We need to look to the leading of the Holy Spirit to keep us on the pathway of speaking truth without compromise, but from a heart of genuine love towards those who receive our words. However, we should never be surprised at the increasing hostility against Kingdom values that will be apparent in these end times.

Prayer: Father God, how sad it was that the loving, healing, truthful words of Jesus resulted in so much hatred towards Him from the influential leaders of His day. However, You have taught us to recognise the spiritual battle and hostility that will inevitably accompany His teaching. We ask for Your guarding and Your wisdom today for every member of the Body of Christ who is participating in that battle. Give us hearts of humility and endurance, in the name of Jesus. Amen.