“Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets…” Luke 6:22-23
Sometimes God calls us to do stuff that looks totally crazy to the world. Love for God obeys God no matter what our obedience looks like to others. Whether we are ridiculed, criticized, judged, gossiped about, rejected, abandoned, hurt, hated, lectured, and/or persecuted, no matter how crazy our faith appears to our loved ones, co-workers, teammates, classmates, cellmates, homeless buddies, teachers, strangers, anyone, we need to love God by obeying God and be willing to sacrifice the love, approval, acceptance, affirmation, and validation of anyone and everyone in favor of living to adore and please Christ. I was reminded of this when I started receiving comments from people after I said God had called me to sell my house, forsake all, and go out on the road for ministry with 6 special needs & senior dogs on a barebones budget and my “crazy faith”.
Years ago, my then pastor started having stroke symptoms while preaching. But he not only sensed God wanted him to keep preaching, but that he also should still get on his flight right after the service to minister in Haiti. He later rebuked his church flock for how we fought hard against his “crazy faith” and refused to stand in faith with him. Another time, he flew into Haiti 48 hours before the massive earthquake and went missing. He was in a building that was damaged but came out unscathed. When found, he was told a flight was available to send him back home. He refused. He knew God had sent him to minister to a nation devastated by a natural disaster. “Crazy faith.” Undoubtedly he was judged by some.
Crazy faith isn’t foolish. We must always pray, study God’s Word, seek Him continually, listen, and obey. But we must never hold onto what is comfortable, easy, familiar, obvious, popular, and what brings the praise and acceptance of people in favor of what God by His Spirit through His Word speaks to our hearts to do to live to bring Him glory. I will continue to be ridiculed and hated, disliked, rejected, hurt, lectured, gossiped about, and abandoned for wholly following Christ to wherever the Holy Spirit may lead me. But the Bible tells me to rejoice and celebrate I am hated for Christ’s sake. We will all stand before the Lord & have to give an account of our lives. Not to people who judged us, but to the Lord. I would rather know I lived in His will with my “crazy faith” than that I so wanted the love and acceptance of people and the ease of a comfortable life that I was willing to forsake living to love, worship, and obey the Lord forever!