Blog

by Eric Hansen

“You have said so.”

As each day ends, our faith in God should grow. What this looks like we cannot compare from one to another because our journeys are as different as the stars in the sky. But what Jesus says here when He is facing Pilate and His eventual death is resounding, especially for those of us today who struggle with being a Christian in a world that essentially hates us.

On a personal level, I tend to not focus on what people think about me because their short-lived emotions are not as everlasting as me pleasing God. There was one exchange recently, however, that got me thinking. Is it acceptable to accept the satirical remark that we as Christians are more morally correct than non-believers?

Definitely being a double-edged sword, we need to tread carefully when trying to discover these types of questions, because our final authority should always remain the Bible. My personal method of assessment to these types of questions is always, "What about Jesus?" After all, if I'm going to model my life after anyone, it's going to be Him. So then, what would Jesus say to someone calling Him out on having a “moral high horse" as it was coined to me? The answer is simple and effective but also can come off as arrogant, and that is "I am what you say I am."

Of course, the scenario between Pilate asking Jesus if he was the Messiah and someone on Facebook calling me morally intolerant are not absolutely comparable beyond the surface. But this is where understanding how to apply the Bible to our current lives comes in. Jesus was not responding in a way that inflated His ego. He knew who He was, and He also knew what He was; it was up to others to discern their own worldly perspective of Him. All Jesus could do is basically smile and continue on with His work set out before Him.

The same applies to the situation above for me. Having had various discussions with this person in the past, I knew where their morality came from (subjective or from feelings), and I knew where mine came from (objective or from the Bible as much as possible). It is not only impossible but also improbable to have morality based on feelings as then there's no standard of what is right or wrong. Our feelings and heart are as deceitful and deceptive as our fallen nature is. With this being the case, I knew early on in my Christian walk I needed to not trust myself but to trust God.

The concept of letting people think what they want is not new. Growing up, I am sure we all heard the phrases "So what?" "Let them think what they want," or "Don't let their opinion bother you" said once or twice. Even more popular is the sticks-and-stones mantra where words can't hurt us. But what is greater for us being able to glorify and honor our most holiest Father than by modeling our response to discontent about our character to what Jesus said? We have to first and foremost consider why we have the view we do.

For an example, lets look at same-sex marriage which the Pope recently endorsed as of this writing. The Biblically Christian view of this should be that homosexuality is a sin (more on that here) and should not be endorsed, especially by a Christian who proclaims to be a child of God. If you follow this view and state that you do not believe it should be legal, then you are often met with either acceptance because those around you share the same worldview, or chastisement because those around you share a different worldview from yours. I have been called intolerant, ignorant, and far worse for believing marriage is man and woman only, a unity of two at that (1 man and 1 woman).

So, then, the dilemma faced is how to respond. If we change our worldview, whether just as a facade or entirely, then we are living of the world and not truly as a child of God. But if we stick to the view that it is a sin, then we risk losing friends, family, our job, etc. Really it could even cost us our lives as persecution grows. The choice is ours to make, but ultimately our choice should be to let God’s Spirit lead through us in His will not ours. We should not be concerned with defending ourselves but instead just focus on being loving, but holding our morals to a standard of God's perfection and excellence, even at the risk of losing what we deem important to our life.

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