Loathsome

Last Friday, the tragedies in Japan had me thinking about the New Testament passages in Mathew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 in which Jesus details the events of the end of the age to his disciples. So I decided to re-read those familiar scriptures. The promise of earthquakes, famine, war, and pestilence are listed there, but what especially resonated with me that day was the statement in Luke 21:17 that says that, "All men will hate you because of me."

This was not news to me. I have read those words countless times and am also very conscious of the drastic cultural shift in this country away from Christianity and the things of God. In addition, I have lived for 41 years as a minority in an ethnically homogenous part of the United States and have personally experienced contempt from individuals that don't appreciate the beautiful texture of my outer canvas. Still, I took a moment to meditate on that statement and thought about how one prepares to be totally hated. No one wants to be hated. It goes against human nature. AW Tozer said it most eloquently in his work The Divine Conquest in which he asserts,

the desire to please men is back of all social acts from the highest civilizations to the lowest levels levels upon which human life is found. No one can escape it. The outlaw who flouts the rules of society and the philosopher who rises in thought above its common ways may seem to have escaped from the snare, but they have in reality merely narrowed the circle of those they desire to please.

As such, preparation for such a state of existence requires a paradigm shift which only comes from having one's mind renewed. (Romans 12:2) It is necessary to adopt the attitude of Christ (who made himself nothing and took on the persona of a servant to achieve His mission according to Philippians 2:5-8), to acknowledge that the life we live is no longer our own (Romans 8), and to keep our eyes on the prize (Romans 8:17-25)