I worship Jesus of Nazareth, the one the Bible calls the Christ. He is the One who Created me. I have met Him. He has changed my life, and I have forensically discovered how on each page of the Scriptures. It is He who fully revealed to a new church made up of both Jews and Gentiles that there is a triune God in the heavens. He is the only one who is God both by and of nature. He fully revealed that there was a devil that hates and lies. We in Christ are not now the least bit ignorant of his devices. He revealed the intended tension He desired us to have between knowing Him by faith, and living under Him as being invisible so that this life would contain designs like truth, and bring forth those easily neglected (yet otherwise impossible) ideas like honor, character and faithfulness.
Humanity dwells in an abnormal state of existence right now—a time when our eyes and ears are withheld from seeing and hearing Him and all that which would otherwise be most visible.
That Jesus I worship was and is hated more than any other. Satan is hated less. It is the darkness of evil and evil alone that hates the light, and I am surrounded by it. It smiles at me daily. He was so despised by men that none outside of His own took any pity on Him on the cross. Men showed the God who created them that it would have been just fine by them were His legs pulverized on the cross so He’d die faster. That’s the God I follow. That’s the God I love. See Him there. How dare I ever expect to be able to just, “Put on a smile and let the world, ‘desire what I’ve got!’”? Carrying about the death of Christ in my body so that His life could also be seen is far more Biblical, 2 Corinthians 4:10. How dare I fall prey to the wiles of Satan in the churches of my land? I’m not ignorant of false gospels. How dare I think that suffering reproach and mockery on account of faith in Him is ever a bad thing? I’m told to rejoice in it. How dare I ever desire to dress Him up in a suit and pretend He’s an item for sale? I will never change the gospel; I am constrained to it. I love it! I will never attempt to remove the offense of it from evil men. I dare not forget that I’m an ambassador between enemies. I am no telemarketer, “Working the numbers for Jesus.” I’m a laborer in a vineyard I did not plant. I will not compromise because if I do I would compromise the truth itself. I will never present the pathetic and puny gospel that puts men at the helm of “free-will;” I will proclaim the gospel that saves instead.
I cannot forget that God could’ve done His earth any way that He wanted. He was the one who came and was bruised. He was the one who designed this earth exactly as it is today. He made it so that many men would hate Him. He made it so that many men would not. What I have to do is learn of Him. I should learn of Him from His word, His ministers, and my own life applying what they’ve taught me. It is my life. I can waste it, but how could I ever waste it when such a prize stands before me? All that the prophets tell me become my experiences if my own heart has been made as theirs was. God, the world hates You. Come! Come nonetheless! Come quickly!
Jesus is despised by men. This will not stop. If that offends us we are not worthy to be His disciples.
Matthew 5:12; Acts 5:41; John 15:18; 2 Timothy 3:12…
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