humbleshoeshineboy

So you just got saved?  Congratulations!  You and your world will never be the same. Here’s what’s gonna happen next: you’re all excited about this and your tell your parents, family and friends. How did that go? Wow, totally not the positive response that you expected, right? Unless you came from a solid Christian background, hang on, rough waters are ahead. You will find that your friends will start excluding you from activities, your siblings will make fun of you, and your parents are worried that you’re in a cult. It doesn’t bother us when strangers treat us badly, but it really cuts to the bone when your own people laugh at you. Perhaps your Dad will roll his eyes whenever you mention Church, your mother may get defensive, brothers and sisters will joyfully mock you and friends just leave because you got “Religion.”.

You’re new at this, so you don’t have the answers to the questions that mean people throw at you.  You don’t know how to respond to” I’m a good person so I’m going to Heaven”, “Who are you to tell me about religion, you used to eat your boogers O Holy One”, and “Hell is where the fun people are.” Just a short time ago you were so happy and excited about your new life, and now you’re all alone, feeling stupid, and people are openly laughing at you. It can make a person second guess that decision for Jesus. Is it really worth all this?

Jesus was talking to you in Luke 14; 26-33:

” If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters,  yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?  Lest haply, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that beholds it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassador and desires conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever  of you that forsake not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple”

That’s pretty hardcore stuff. We wouldn’t really hate those we know, but you have to make a choice, you must decide where your loyalty lies. Perhaps someday they will get saved and things will be fine, but they sure aren’t today. Are you still in or are you out? What if they totally block you out if you don’t go back to your “old” self and get over this phase that you’re going through?

Jesus kinda gets in your face about it too, you started this, you said that you meant it, but are you going to follow through with it? Do you have the resolve to hang on until you understand more or are you a quitter? Either pal or poser, friend or fraud. Either you have locked in your loyalty  to the King or you’re going to drop Him to pacify your friends and family. This is the hardest part about being saved, it really is. It still is for me after all these years. Most of my family and friends still aren’t on board with this hardcore Christian thing. They’re good people, but God doesn’t really mean much to them. The world has caught their eye with shiny stuff and they figure that because they aren’t Adolph Hitler, God is going to let them into Heaven. Some are gambling that when they die, that’s it, they are just plant food. It really breaks my heart knowing what’s in store for them. I wish I could change it, Jesus does too, but my loyalty remains to the truth. We must remember that our people are His people, just as our stuff is His stuff.  We don’t take anyone, or our stuff, with us when we die. Nothing really belongs to us anyway. Choose your loyalty. Jesus is my king and I am His very flawed servant. That’s my choice and His grace.

If you’re in a rough patch, hang in there. You aren’t alone. Strengthen your resolve and keep learning. You won’t regret it and you may be the only example of Jesus that your family and friends will ever see. You may be what God sent to help them get saved too. It may be hard to believe right now. You can’t even imagine the greatness that God has in store for you!

Be strong friends and don’t give up. Quitters don’t make the cut!