It’s not wrong for Christians to be liked by the world. But it is wrong for Christians to do ungodly things to make themselves more likeable. For Christian teenagers there is a great temptation to be liked and to succumb to peer pressure.
Jesus makes it clear in John 15 that the world hates Him and His followers. There are times when Christians, like their master Jesus, are hated for no apparent reason. It’s not often nice to be hated! And so when you know that the world hates you, the temptation is even greater to do stuff to try impress people and so be liked.
What should you do when you’re tempted to be liked for the wrong reasons?
- Don’t be shocked if you’re not liked – Jesus says you will be hated and he forewarns his disciples so that they will not go astray.
- Don’t give up on Jesus – keep trusting Jesus and keep preaching the good news of Jesus to yourself every day. John 3:16 is a good place to start: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Keep clinging to Jesus.
- Know your citizenship – when you know where you truly belong, you won’t mind if there are times when you don’t fit into the world. “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Know your home. Know your Saviour.
- Rejoice in Jesus – The Apostles were stoked that they were “counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41-42). The believers in Hebrews 10:32-34 were stoked to be plundered because they knew they had “better and lasting possessions.” Rejoice in the Lord always.
If you are a teenager (or are in ministry to teenagers), The Rebelution is a good website to visit in the fight to resist the temptation to be liked. The official definition of the ‘rebelution’ is “a teenage rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly culture.”
PS – 3 warm fuzzies if you can guess the Napoleon Dynamite link…
Girls only like guys who have skills…
Good post, mate.
sam – close but no. i’ll lock that one away for a relationship talk!!
ben – thanks.
Man, truthful. Im also a junior high youth leader in Panama city, Panama. Really wise words, cause one of my disciples is experiencing this kind of behavior. Thanks a lot man, good to ended up here and know what are you doing with youth on the other side of the planet. Blessings to you and your crew.
cesar,
thanks for stopping by. glad the post was helpful.
keep preaching Jesus to the junior high crew in panama!
dave
Out to prove he’s got nothing to prove??
Nice post
yo dale… that’s pretty close.
basically – he didn’t mind what people thought of him.
warm fuzzies:
1) dale you are really eager at playing afl
2) you are an infectiously passionate man
3) you are part of the best youtube vide series ever (ihaven’t forgotten there are sitll 2 to go!)
hey dave am not sure if you have seen this but i was very amused to see you use Napoleon
just go here and find out why i am amused
http://smas.stmattswanniassa.org.au/Google%20Calendar/GoogleCalendar.html
haha!!
that’s gold!
is the subtext behind the picture that anyone is welcome to come to your growth groups – even if they don’t fit in anywhere else???
i found this application that let you easily change the words on the t-shirt. so for the powerpoint on this talk, it had “vote for Jesus” on the t-shirt.
the idea of growth groups is that anyone can come, that is partly why i found it so so funny that you used it for the same reason
flippin sweet