Read Luke 11:53-54
You Choose: Attack or Debate
After Jesus confronted the Pharisees and teachers of the law, he went outside. At that time the Pharisees and teachers of the law began to:
1. Oppose Jesus fiercely.
2. Besiege him with questions.
3. To want to catch him in something he might say to hold against him.
How ironic! Jesus accused the Pharisees and the teachers of the law for being like their forefathers who killed the prophets for confronting them with their hardened hearts. Now, someone more important than the prophets is in their midst, the Son Of God, who is confronting them because of their hard hearts. Now all of a sudden they are filled with so much hate that they want to get rid of the Jesus. Their forefathers could have taken the confrontation as a means to get reestablished with God by confessing and repenting of their sins. Instead, they attacked their accusers. These Pharisees and teachers of the law are doing exactly the same thing to Jesus.
We live in a world today where people attack others unjustly for anything that opposes their viewpoints. Rather than have a debate with ideas, people attack. Being a follower of Jesus will automatically put a Target on us. People attack Christians fiercely and will draw conclusions that your heart is evil and hateful. They will call you a racist, homophobic, fascist, etc. and it will be far from the truth. Even though your opposition to their viewpoint is done out of love, you still get attacked as being the worst person ever, thus deserving even death. That probably doesn’t sound anything like our world today!
What are you willing to endure for Christ. Will you stay faithful to the truth no matter what? Will you cave to those who viciously attack you because you can’t handle the label they put on you?
Jesus spoke truth. He loved with truth. He hated and confronted sin but always loved the sinner. But he never conformed to the world. Lord help me be faithful to the end, no matter what. Forgive me when I fail you!
