Why is it so difficult to relate to others especially regarding politics and religion? I think that Jesus’ answers are quite fitting. He mentions two very different groups of people:
• John 8:31–32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
o Free from what? 2 Corinthians 4:4, 6…The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The other group did not love God or His Word:
• John 8:37 “I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 8:42–43…If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.”
Why were they unable to “bear to hear” the Word of God? The unbelieving world is under the influence of Satan (1 John 5:19) who hates all the things of God (Revelation 12).
A close unbelieving friend of mine was reading my book on Psychological Apologetics. I had assured him that he would appreciate my anti-secular therapy perspective. He didn’t and explained that each time he encountered the word “God,” he’d have to put the book down. Eventually, he got rid of it.
• John 8:45–47 “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
Elsewhere, Jesus had explained that along with their rejection of Him, they had become lovers of the darkness, the lie:
• John 3:19–21 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Those who have come to the light and abide in His Word have come to know the truth which is setting them free (John 8:32) from the darkness into the love of the truth! To love the truth is to love the Word of God, the scalpel of the Holy Spirit:
• Ephesians 6:17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
To neglect this sword is to reject God’s many blessings:
• 2 Peter 1:2–4 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
I had become addicted to the darkness, feeding myself continually with positive affirmations and visualizations. As they failed to give me the high I craved, my self-deceptions had to become even more grandiose. Besides, I required the positive affirmations of others, which drove them away. I couldn’t endure criticism and failure, for they represented rebukes to my affirmations. Nor could I endure rejection. Therefore, I found reasons to reject them before they could reject me. I was walking in the darkness of my addiction until the painfully exposing light of Christ appeared in my life. Now I thank God for exposing my darkness:
• Psalm 119:67, 71, 72 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word…It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Yes, we do need to be afflicted. Only as our eyes open to the consequences of our addictions can we begin to hate the darkness in favor of the light.
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