¹⁹ Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!” (John 12:19 CSB)

Much like when Jesus was preaching, we may find times when others will come against us to sully our message or our character. We may not even be trying to preach or teach, but living a Christ like life alone may be a point of contention with others.

There have been times in my life when it seems others had an axe to grind when we had had no confrontation. They simply had some need to run me down with others. I did my best to continue to treat them with love and respect, but I will say that it was not easy and I was not always good at it.

But when we begin to look at the world around us with eternal eyes we begin to realize how these petty squabbles have no real meaning. They are the enemy’s means of distracting us from our true mission, our true calling. He wants nothing more than to keep us in a constant state of distraction and discouragement.

This is where we must stand firm and not allow him to win. Where we must pour twice the love on those who hate us. Where we must keep true to our path and scriptural teaching.