Courage to be different!

“If the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first. If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own. But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too. But they will do all this to you because you are mine; for they do not know the one who sent me.

Food for thought!

Like Christ like Christians! This is consoling because it means that Jesus identifies himself with us; and we with Christ; what happened to Jesus is bound to happen to us. So don't be surprised if Christ's life gets replayed in yours. It is because you are Christian. Christians are bound to be like Christ. It means that Jesus continues to live, to love, to suffer in his Christians, your suffering is Jesus' suffering; your joy is his joy; your concern is his concern.

This is what Jesus told Saul, when this man was once persecuting Christians: Acts 9:3-6

Saul (Paul) set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. 4 As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He said, "Who are you, Master?" I am Jesus, the One you're hunting down."

What Jesus told Saul (or Paul) that day, and Paul did not know yet, was that persecuting Christians tantamount to persecuting Christ himself. Hating a Christian is hating Christ himself. So be careful!

«Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too.» This means that we can and should expect, not only good things but also bad ones. All that happened to Jesus is by and large happening to us. Christ continues to live in this world in you and me. So let us face life and its challenges in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Jesus warned us further that the world (society) will hate us. Why all this hatred? Well, we know from experience that people will always treat anybody that is different with suspicion. Anyone who is different, who wears different clothes, who has different ideas, different thoughts, is automatically a suspect. He may be regarded as an eccentric or a madman or a danger; whoever is different is bound to have life made uncomfortable for him.

The world acutely dislikes people whose lives are a condemnation of it. It is in fact dangerous to be good. It is dangerous to practice a higher standard of living than the standard of the rest of the people. To put it at its widest, the world always suspects nonconformity. It likes a pattern; it likes to be able to label a person and to put him in a pigeon-hole. Anyone who does not conform to the pattern will certainly meet trouble. It is even said that if a hen with different markings is put among hens that are all alike, the others will peck her to death.

The basic demand on the Christian is the demand that s/he should have the courage to be different. To be different will be dangerous, but no wo/man can be a Christian unless s/he accepts that risk, for there must be a difference between the wo/man of the world and the wo/man of Christ. Don't be afraid to be different.

Are you different in anything? Are you like everybody else in everything? What are you different in? Food for thought.