July 10 Quote

"You can’t serve God and be liked by his enemies.”
 The actual verbatim quote: “We can’t expect to faithfully serve God and be liked by his enemies.”  Gary Thomas.

     One of my favorite quotes, which of course, I felt the need to paraphrase.  It's a great reminder when you are a pastor that you can't make everybody happy all of the time.  In fact, if you could manage to make everyone happy all of the time it is almost guaranteed that you are not faithfully serving God.
     It  is easy to forget that God has enemies.  Maybe because almost nobody thinks of themselves as enemies of God.  But the gospel is provocative.  The gospel is unsettling.  The gospel is a threat to the status quo.  I often say that we didn't crucify Jesus because of his overall charm, kindness and good looks.  We crucified Jesus because he brought the light of God into our lives and illumined the dark corners we'd been keeping from others, from God, and in some instances, even to ourselves.  We put out the light because we'd grown rather accustomed to the darkness.  To be human is to be--at one time or another--an enemy of God.
    It is Jesus who has allowed us to "make up" with God, to drop our rebellious attitude, and be reconciled with God--to become God's friends--to be restored as God's children.  In a way, part of my role as a Christian leader is to do what I can to invite God's enemies into friendship with their Creator.  (It is the role of all of us who follow Jesus and care about the people around us who are out of step with God.) This quote reminds me that I can't always do that.  In fact, if I am really persistent and faithful I run the real risk of making personal enemies out of God's enemies.  Sad, I know, but the cost of courage and the price of love.
    I love to be liked or I like to be loved--probably both.  So this is always a hard one for me.  I supposed that's why I wrote this down ten or so years ago and come back to it again and again.  I want to be liked by God and share his love more than I need to be liked by those who may or may not love my God.  I wish I could do both.  Alas, I will always take the first over the second.