Sharing Truth Brings Persecution

If you are not being persecuted in some way, you are probably not sharing truth.

There are those who think they are more spiritual when everyone loves them. Christ tells us the opposite.

Mark 13:12-13 "…12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. 13 You will be hated by everyone on account of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. "

There are those in the church that think if we tell the truth and someone gets mad, we must have done something wrong. Perhaps we didn't say something the right way or we had a bad attitude. When we see that Christ was rejected and still is by most people, then we can easily refute the accusations that we were doing something wrong. It is the Holy Spirit Who guides us as we walk with Him. We have not need to walk on egg shells wondering if we did or said something the right way.

2 Timothy 4:2-3 " 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.…"

I have known people who joke continually, they do it to get people to like them. They love the adulation of those happy slaps on the back. It's one thing to have a personality who views life as sort of funny, some people are naturally this way. But there are also those who work real hard at being jesters to keep attention on themselves.

We know these people because it is impossible to have a serious conversation about anything that matters with them.

I have known people like this, they are constantly joking and laughing, as soon as someone become serious there is a negative sort of rage that emerges from them. They act as though they hate seriousness, it makes them think, it makes them have to stop the actions that gain them personal attention.

When we encounter this "court jester" mentality we do not need to feel intimidated, merely speak as led by the Holy Spirit and ignore any negative responses to intimidate.