Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Luke 6:22–23 (NIV)
A most blessed new week to us all!
There is a time and place when social rejection is a badge of honor. Up until about the early 2000s, being a Christian in America was socially and culturally advantageous. One was seen as an upstanding and devoted citizen to live a public life of Christian faith.
However, a cultural critic (A.M. Renn) has made the following observation about America, starting from about 2014: “society has an overall negative view of Christianity. Being known as a Christian is a social negative, particularly in the higher status domains of society. Christian morality is expressly repudiated and now seen as a threat to the public good and new public moral order. Holding to Christian moral views, publicly affirming the teachings of the Bible, or violating the new secular moral order can lead to negative consequences.”
He is spot on. And not just in America, but in almost everywhere in the Western world in the 21st century.
And so we must ground ourselves in the words of Jesus: “Blessed are you when people hate you.”
This CHRISTmas season, let us put CHRIST front and center, and count our blessings.
AMEN.
By Pr/Ovr Kofi Owusu Boakye
