When The People Turn On You

Many years I have watched as people have turned their backs on me, turned and walked away. The day may come when the strength of men fail, and when we realize strength is not of man, but that of the Lord. It is not of our own strength we achieve anything but that of Christ who lifts us up. What shame when man puts himself on high above God and puts God on a shelf. Fear Mongering is a strong attribute of some and how man can raise the stakes for all in anger and hatred. It may only take one person to sway a crowd and turn an assembly into a riot. What happens when this occurs in life, the one of your personal circles? People may turn their backs on you and while it hurts, sometimes, deeply we must realize man/women will always fall short.

I have experienced both loss as I have watched as God is put on the shelf and as those who abandon God all together. We forget so quickly how to follow God and in the moment we are so easily swayed to follow the Devil. In this we forsake our friends, our family, and we forget so quickly the command of our Savior Jesus Christ, to love your neighbor. No mattr what happens we must remember people do not represent God. Even a pastor a man of God will fall, and fail at some point. No matter who they are, or how righteous they seem to be there may come a time when they turn and take a wrong path.

I remember thinking about scripture when I came up with this topic. I was listening to a lesson about Paul but what I was thinking of is when Jesus first enters Jerusalem, welcomed by palms and the crowds singing and praising him. How quickly that changed in a matter of day, and that same crowd that was singing Hozana, turned to Crucify him. If people turned on the savior over all of our sins, how easily do you think they will turn on you?

In acts we see this same thing happen to Paul over and over again. Paul goes in to the city, preaches and teaches at the Synagogue or somewhere in the city, he’s a novelty for a little while, and then he starts to upset certain people, and that’s when it goes down hill. Paul was beaten, jailed, stoned, all in the name of Christ. If we think that somehow we should be free from this same behavior of others, what makes us so special? I’m not condoning that kind of negative, hurtful behavior, but living in this world it’s a fact of life.

One last thought is this; when you are following the name of Jesus don’t be surprised if you upset those around you who don’t like what you are preaching, or even the person you’ve become. In acts 19, we see Paul affecting the statue sales of the goddess Diana. Quickly the crowds turned and as one man began to get the crowd rowdy and they even kidnapped some of Paul’s friends, just to get to Paul. Paul was affecting the wallet of those who crafted statues of this goddess, and ultimately was affecting the bottom line. How do we affect those around us when we preach and teach about Jesus Christ? How have we changed since following Christ and affected friendships around us? Remember this, “It’s better to stand with God and be judged by man, then to stand with man and be judged by God.” Don’t place too much thought in what man/women thinks of you, it’s better to focus on what God thinks of you.

(Disclaimer: If you are actively living in sin, or traveling down a bad path, if people point that out, that’s NOT what I’m talking about. We are to stand up to sin, and we are to help the sinner get back on track.)