Living Upstream

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.” John 15:18

When my kids were in high school, a man regularly stood across the street wearing a sandwich board that announced something along the lines of:

YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!

There may have been additional information underneath, but you would have needed to cross the street to read it. And no one in their right mind was getting that close to Sandwich-Board-Man.

I'm guessing his evangelism success rate was hovering somewhere below zero.

I'm sure he experienced plenty of opposition. But that opposition wasn't necessarily evidence that he was faithfully following Jesus.

Sometimes people oppose Christians because we're obnoxious, judgmental, or self-righteous. Jesus never watered down truth, but He delivered it with such extraordinary grace that broken people wanted to be near Him.

Jesus was offensive because of the truth He embodied, not because He was unnecessarily offensive in the way He delivered it.

Still, genuinely following Jesus will eventually put us at odds with something.

Imagine walking downstream. The current carries you almost effortlessly. You may not even realize how powerful it is because you're moving in the same direction.

Then turn around.

Suddenly, you feel the force of the water. The current didn't become stronger when you turned around.

You simply weren't resisting it before.

Following Jesus means walking against the current.

Our culture has many currents. Pride, greed, bitterness, comparison, sexual temptation, materialism, revenge, and the desperate need for approval can all carry us along.

But Jesus says forgive when everything in us wants revenge. Give when the world says accumulate. Serve when everyone else is climbing. Choose integrity when compromise would be easier.

And sometimes the strongest current isn't around us. It's within us.

Jesus says, Trust Me, while fear screams, Take control. Forgive, while our wounded heart argues, They don't deserve it. Humble yourself, while pride insists, But I need them to know I was right.

Following Jesus isn't measured by how many people you offend.

It's measured by how faithfully you follow Him when His way runs against the current.

If your faith never challenges the world around you, or the world within you, it may be worth asking which direction you’re traveling.

Jesus calls you to turn around and says,

Follow Me.

We're going upstream.

You are loved!