Why Do Some People Hate Jesus and Christians?
“People hate Jesus because they want to be their own god,” says Jaiden, 8.
The idea of needing a savior goes against everything in us that wants control. Yet, it should be obvious we’re not in control. The daily barrage of bad news from the media verifies this.
Statistics show that one of the most dangerous things we do every day is to get into a car. My stepdad died in a head-on collision. In another auto accident, my sister suffered permanent brain-stem damage that left her totally helpless for more than 35 years. The illusion of control quickly passes when death or injury unexpectedly intrude.
“People hate Jesus and Christians because they’re on the dark side of the world,” says Artemio, 9.
Many people associate darkness with human trafficking, drug addiction, murder and other heinous sins. But there’s another side of darkness that doesn’t get much attention.
During Jesus’ ministry, he reserved his harshest language for religious leaders of his day. He called them “whitewashed tombs,” beautiful on the outside, but full of hypocrisy on the inside (Matthew 23:27-28). They had a veneer of righteousness, but their hearts were empty. They lacked the righteousness that only God can give to those who trust Jesus as their savior.
“The reason why people hate me and Jesus is because I don’t belong to this world,” says Sara, 7. “I belong to God. God protects me from death.”
When Jesus warned his disciples about the world, he didn’t speak of the soil, trees and sky. Jesus warned his disciples and us about a system of thinking that is independent from God or even openly hostile against him.
Sara has adopted Jesus’ view of her as not belonging to this world. With the assurance of eternal life with God in heaven, Christians should view themselves as sojourners through this world with heaven as their true home. They have dual citizenship in that they’re citizens of their country while at the same time citizens of heaven.
The Bible says Christians are ambassadors for Christ. Why? Because believers don’t belong to this world. Christ’s ambassadors carry the good news that Jesus paid the price by his death on the cross to purchase everyone’s passage to heaven.
Immediately after the Apostle Paul wrote that Christians are ambassadors for Jesus, he wrote this famous salvation passage: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21).
In other words, Jesus took everyone’s sins on himself when he died on the cross. For all who place their faith in him as their savior, he credits his righteousness to them. In contrast to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, righteousness is a gift to be received from God, not a reward to be earned.
If you want to make people mad, give them a list of religious rules. If you want to make them fighting mad or even hateful, tell them there’s nothing they can do to earn salvation. The righteousness needed to reside in heaven is a gift to be received by faith alone in Christ alone.
Think about this: Religious people who try to earn favor with God by keeping rules will always hate those who say that salvation is by God’s grace through faith in Christ apart from any good works or rule keeping.
Memorize this truth: II Corinthians 5:21 previously quoted.
Ask this question: Is this world your home, or are you passing through to your heavenly residence?
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