John 5

The popular mindset today—and has been for a long time—is this: “If Jesus came and appeared to me physically, right now, then I could be confident in my faith—throwing in a miracle or two might not be a bad idea either,” and that’s an easy stance to take, I should know J. But then think about that concept for a minute. What happened the last time Jesus came and ministered and performed miracles among us? It seems that more people—more of His people—rejected and killed Him than immediately accepted Him; even many of those who did believe chose to hide their faith for fear of losing their position and their peers.

“I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”

“Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” John 12:42-43

Yes, I’m sure that if Christ were to come down and mingle among us today, we would treat Him in the same manner that the Jews and the Romans did 2,000 years ago, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we had many people telling Him—the Maker of the universe, the First and the Last, the Savior of the world—to tone down His message and be a little more open minded and accepting…people don’t like being told their belief of choice is wrong, you know? That just wouldn’t be appropriate. Why would so many think this way? Because we don’t want to leave the comfort of the corporate acceptance that we’ve worked so hard to obtain. Haven’t you ever noticed how easy it is to be a group Christian, but when you’re out on your own, you find yourself pausing to think about how “the others” might react if you were to be bluntly Christian? That was the situation in the above verses, and God clearly points out for us the “why”—because they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Yup, they wanted to “fit in” or, to put it simply, conform.
If we’re honest, we all get easily pulled into looking for the approval of those around us instead of striving for the praise that comes from God, but have you ever thought of how funny that sounds? I mean, I understand the somewhat simplicity of the occurrence, but when you really think about it, it sounds completely absurd—striving for the temporary and frail support of (in comparison) insignificant humans or working towards the praise of an everlasting, universe-shaping, life-giving, sin-purifying, amazingly loving King of Kings? See, one day all the people that are currently around you are going to be gone, and all you’ll have before you is Christ (in which case “all” will be more than enough), and from what I understand, standing before God is going to go beyond anyone’s imagination. Who and what will you be thinking about at that moment? Right, probably more about Who allowed you to enter that holy and perfect place and less about what pats on the back you received from your peers. So…whose praise do you truly desire to strive for?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” John 12:2
“Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, “He is our God.”'”Romans 8:54