When People Don't Like You

How do you feel when you know someone doesn’t like you? 

I find it uncomfortable. Especially when, as far as I know, I haven’t done anything to offend the person. Some people just don’t take to you. Who knows why?

I suppose it doesn’t matter to some people whether they are well-liked or not.  I’m not one of those people. It matters to me, more than it should.

Look, I know you can’t make anyone, let alone everyone, like you. And if you hang your happiness on how popular you are, you might as well resign yourself to being miserable. I know this is true.

When you live, work, play, and go to school with people, you can’t avoid the reality that some of those people are just not going to like you. And of course we often make matters worse by doing and saying things that justifiably tic people off.

All of which makes me admire the Lord Jesus so much. Because He chose someone to be one of His closest associates who hated Him and wanted Him dead. He treated that person with love and kindness and courtesy, just like the other eleven disciples.

What must it have been like for the Savior to have always known Judas would betray Him? Christ carried on, day after day, all the while expecting He would feel the cold kiss of Judas in the Garden one day.

When you think about it, though millions of us love Christ, millions hate Him, curse Him, and would nail Him to a cross every day if they got the chance.

Jesus didn’t need the approval of Judas or anyone else to feel good about Himself. It was enough to hear, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased. Luke 3:22

Here’s a truth deeper than all the games people play: if you belong to Him, what does it matter whether you receive the approval of anyone else?

Why We're Afraid to Pray

Many years ago while I was still in college I needed somebody to talk to. I was struggling with a problem and didn’t know how to solve it. I had run out of ideas and had just about given up.

I knew a Christian doctor, an older man well-respected in his church. A family physician, he had a reputation for wisdom and gentleness. Just the kind of man who could give me counsel, I hoped. While I was nervous about seeking advice, I was desperate enough that I made an appointment to see him.

A week or so later, I walked into his office, took a seat, and haltingly told him my troubles. He sat behind a big desk and leaned forward as I spoke. I was both embarrassed and relieved to be talking to someone about issues that seemed too heavy for me to carry. Once my voice broke, and I paused to get control of my emotions. The doctor smiled encouragingly.

Finally I had laid out the whole mess to him. I already felt a little bit better.

The doctor smiled at me again, and then said, “It’s obvious that you are being punished for your sins.” If he had slammed me in the face with a brick, I don’t think it could have hurt more. Even now, so many years later, I feel the sting of it.

Jesus and the Planet Me

Last Sunday night during our church's praise and prayer meeting, Brad, one of our elders, shared a devotional about Jesus, the friend of sinners, and about what a friend the Lord has been to him.

He talked about poor choices he had made in the past, and how coming to know Jesus has changed everything for him and given him a wonderful life he could never have imagined before meeting Christ.

His short talk brought tears to my eyes. Christ is so good to us, and anyone who knows Him could say what Brad said: where would I be without the friendship of Christ?

When he mentioned poor choices in the past, it made me think of Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 1:30: And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Wisdom doesn’t mean how much you know but how much skill you have to live life. Before Christ my “wisdom” was all about minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure. My choices, and yours, all revolved around the Planet Me. No wonder we were messed up.

Jesus became to us wisdom from God. Not just that He gave us wisdom, but that He became wisdom. He became the way to live life. Wisdom starts with knowing who truly deserves to be at the center. No longer enslaved to the Planet Me, the Son in our solar system is Christ.

Wisdom is Christ, and it means a cosmic shift of lordship. True wisdom has Jesus at the center and source and destination for everything. My choices need to start there—with admiring Christ.