The Pitfall of Fitting In
Jesus’ supreme mission to all believers is to evangelize, to spread the Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20 NKJV). Through hearing the Gospel, people get to learn about the saving grace of God that we receive through trusting in Jesus Christ as our King and Savior (Romans 10:14-15 NKJV).
While some or many of us are willing to share the Gospel with others, we do not wish to share in Christ’s sufferings. We get entangled in the process of trying to disciple without hurting other people’s feelings. As relational beings, we are afraid of being hated, badmouthed or left alone. We thus tend to modify and customize our process of discipling, teaching or preaching in order to render it more acceptable and friendly to our brethren or unbelievers. In this process, we risk neglecting what the Bible teaches. While doing this, we rely on our mere human conscience to evangelize, our inborn sense of what is right but not rooted from the truth of the Word of God, relying on our mind and emotions, and yet, our heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9-10 NKJV). “Some more jokes will do, put in some few slangs, hmmm some empty words or may be philosophy” becomes our evangelical basis instead of the truth whereas only the truth sets free (John 8:32 NKJV).
This which can be described as a self-need to be cared for, loved and praised becomes our little god to please. We try hard to please self by fitting in with the standards of society which then takes Jesus’ place in our hearts. Beware! God’s truth is the only truth and therefore not subject to being changed by social standards.
"While some or many of us are willing to share the Gospel with others, we do not wish to share in Christ’s sufferings. We get entangled in the process of trying to disciple without hurting other people’s feelings. "
There is a root! The spirit of fear of rejection and pride — among others! We want to be accepted by people and praised that we end up not surrendering to God’s will to be absolutely accomplished in us. It is very selfish and ungodly to stay in our comfort zones, compromising God’s truth trying to not offend an unbeliever or growing believers and be rejected by them, or even trying not to offend self.. For the sake of preaching the Gospel, Paul chose to know Christ only and Him crucified and so received the grace to endure even when he was being made the filth of the world (1 Corinthians 2:1-2, 4:13 NKJV). There is no greater love you can have for your brother than presenting to them the saving truth so that they may also be saved from eternal death, even if that would be associated with persecution or making you a spectacle to the world (1 Corinthians 4:9 NKJV). We are so much concerned about the judgment of men and the glory from them than that of God, that we choose to do what pleases men instead of what pleases God.
Our desire to not be judged and fear of being rejected do not usually come alone. We tend to not only want to not be looked as irrelevant, offensive, out of step with the world, but we also go to the other extreme of wanting to be made much of, to impress, to be seen as greater spiritual beings than our audience, to be awed at with what we say. We want to be, to some degree, exalted! This is pride, or at least one of its symptoms. And we do this not relying on God, and His word, but rather we start relying on ourselves to climb on and maintain our position on the newly found, evangelism-brought pedestal. We mold the message to whatever shape will bring applause out of the audience. We are longing for glory, and to this end even credit the work that He does in the ministry to ourselves, which at this point feels less sacrilegious. He who gives the strength — us in this new, deceptive picture — gets the glory. We no longer depend on the Lord, nor regard Him as our Master or even heed His instructions, but yet we still claim to be in His service. All this becomes of course easier once we have lost the fear of God. “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13 KJV). We ignore the fact that “everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5 NKJV).
We should however remember that the Lord our God is not altogether like man; He weighs hearts and tests motives or intentions and not what is displayed on the outward (1 Thessalonians 2:4 NKJV, Proverbs 16:2 NKJV). And we should never mistake His patience with us for weakness. He is longsuffering so that we should turn to Him and not perish (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV). The moment the salvation of people is about us then we have forgotten that it’s God who saves. We may plant, water, but it is God who gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6-7 NKJV).
"The moment the salvation of people is about us then we have forgotten that it’s God who saves."
Dear brethren, Jesus made it clear that they will hate us for they hated Him too (John 15:18-19 NKJV). And we are in the last days where most people do not want sound teaching but rather those that align with their fleshly desires (2 Timothy 4:3-5 NKJV). Trying so hard to persuade men instead of pleasing God, leaves us not being bondservants of Christ (Galatians 1:10 NKJV). Jesus calls us to lean on Him and stop being unbelieving. He wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be equipped through the Scripture for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV). We were not given the spirit of the world but rather the Spirit of God that searches the deep things of God and makes known to us His perfect will (1 Corinthians 2:10-12 NKJV). The Holy Spirit is our helper, and He guides us in all truth (John 16:13 NKJV). He pours out the love of God in our hearts and this cannot cohabit with the love of the world. The Holy Spirit renews our minds and helps us to set them on the things above and not on the world (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV, Colossians 3:2 NKJV).
The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of fear but of power, love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7-8 NKJV). Being filled with the Holy Spirit will give us humble boldness to proclaim the Gospel (Acts 4:31 NKJV). The Holy Spirit dwells in us who have received Christ, but we ought to be filled with Him to experience the full range of His work in our lives. His fruits in us are not fleshly, but rather, those that bring more favor from the Lord (James 4:16 NIV). Beloved, allow this transformation brought by the Holy Spirit to take effect in your life. Walk and live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16 NKJV) nor surrender to its fears.
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
I surrender to Your lead and guidance. Fill me with the Holy Spirit.
Grant me the grace to rely solely on You and be willing to share in Christ’s sufferings in my evangelism and life here on earth awaiting the glorification when I shall see You Jesus.
All the glory belongs to You today and forever.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
