“Your approval means nothing to me, because I know you don’t have God’s love within you.“
John 5:41-42 NLT
Jesus wasn’t at all concerned about what people thought about Him. He was on Planet Earth for one reason – to fulfil the mission given to Him by His Father in Heaven. He was coming to the end of His conversation with the Jewish leaders after they had picked Him up for telling the healed man to “take up your bed and walk”. Their petty attention to something trivial like carrying a sleeping mat on the Sabbath was the precursor to a significant introduction of what Jesus’ mission was all about. Jesus was not going to be bounced into saying or doing things just to please other people. Jesus saw right into the souls of these leaders and could see that they didn’t love God at all. In spite of their rank and status He consigned them to the group of people carrying the “need to repent” label.
So much of what we do or say in our societies has to be carefully thought through. Will what I say offend the other person? Will disagreeing with my boss affect my career prospects? Or worse, will what I say lead to a charge related to hate speech, just because I don’t, or won’t, affirm another person’s ideology? Rightly or wrongly, our speech and behaviour is seasoned by a sensitivity to those around us, but Jesus was a counter-cultural figure who faced head on the societal norms, and particularly those that got in the way of His mission. His scathing analysis of the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders, and particularly the Pharisees, was well documented. On one occasion He said to the Pharisees, “You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say” (Matthew 12:34). Today, in the UK, such a statement would end up in the “hate speech” category I’m sure, even though Jesus was correct in His assessment of the spiritual health of the people His comment was directed to.
We pilgrims are on a mission ordained by God, echoing Jesus’ commands, following His ways, and to also “seek and save the lost”. In the process of this, we will end up challenging the margins of our secular society. For example, a street preacher has to be very careful, particularly as parts of the Bible contain Scriptures that are considered offensive to certain groups. As we interact with others, the mention of sin and evil will not necessarily be well received. People like to hear the Scriptures that they agree with, but the Bible is the whole package and we can’t remove the verses that we don’t like.
Fearing how other people think about us, or might react to what we would like to say, can potentially be a problem to us, particularly if we are always looking for the approval of others. But we need to remember that our security is in God. Proverbs 29:25, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety“. Hebrews 13:6, “So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” We have no need to be dictated to by what others think of us, or how many “likes” we acquire on our Facebook posts. In the end they will make no difference to our status in God’s eyes, and our future with Him in Heaven. Jesus didn’t need man’s approval, and neither do we.
Father God. We love You and Your ways. That is enough to sustain us through the minefields of sensitivities in the societies in which we live. Please help us to be bold, but loving and gracious to those around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 