Be More Christlike, Be Ready For More Persecution!

It's stupid to say, "If you're more like Jesus, everybody will love you."  That really makes any good Christian say, "Well did you read John 15:18-19?  Did you know why Jesus was crucified?"  The truth of the matter in Scripture is that if you're going to live like Christ, the world is going to hate you.  It's never going to love the Christian.  They hated Christ and so are they going to hate the Christian.  The Christian will be falsely accused together with those who deserve it.  One can even expect that if you're going to follow Christ, march for Christ then the world will march against you.

The more I read the four accounts of the Gospel by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John the more I'm convinced that true Christians will be hated.  The Foxe's Book of Martyrs had shown how Christians were always hated.  Nominal or false Christianity can be so-well loved and the Roman Catholic population has one of the largest numbers of followers, if not the largest number of followers in the world.  They are Christians only in name but they've never been biblically born again.  Worse, they tend to brag they're right because of their increasing numbers never mind Matthew 7:13-14 warn that so few find the way to life and many enter the ways of Hell.

Right has always been right no matter how so few believe it.  When you ask people how many of them believe that Jesus is the only Way, there are more people who reject it even if it's the truth.  When you ask people how many of them believe in popular lies, many of them believe them.  Even if so many people believe in the lies, it's 100% certain truth remains.  The way to life is narrow and the truth can't be compromised with lies.  So there's no credibility in scolding the child for lying to the parent if the parent doesn't believe in absolutes or that truth is relative.  Just because it's the truth doesn't mean that the stupid majority will accept it.

2 Timothy 3:12 states if you're going to live godly then expect persecution.  Christians will get more persecution because godliness is inevitable.  Matthew 5:11-12 gives this comfort that instead of fretting, Christians should rejoice because if they're persecuted falsely for being godly then there's really much reward in Heaven.