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Living for Christ Means Opposition
By Editor | July 24, 2008
There is a fallacy that has woven itself into the evangelical Christian mindset today that was simply not there years ago. It is this. To live the ‘perfect’ Christian life means you will have no enemies. That was not the way of the heroes of faith in the Bible, nor was it the way of our spiritual forefathers - especially the reformers - and it assuredly was not the way of Christ, our Great Example! To live your life and have no enemies, means you did not live your life as Christ meant you to. The Lord Jesus Christ himself said, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).
If you expose error, then the one in error will likely become your enemy except God gives him grace to repent of that error. I think this idea is likely expressed best by the Scottish journalist, Charles Mackay (1814 - 1889). The following are lines from one of his poems.
You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done,
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip;
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight.
Topics: Serving The Lord, Victory in Christian living |
October 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
“Always preach in such a way that if the people listening to you do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you.” - Martin Luther to Philip Melanchthon