How Should You Respond to the Haters? What about fellow Christians?

How Should You Respond to the Haters? What about fellow Christians?

Have you ever had 1) someone you strongly disagreed with, and 2) someone who hated you and what you stand for? If you have not, then I can give you a few lines you can put on social media. You will find out, those people exist. They are all over. I can think of at least two groups of people with whom we may disagree and who produce a sense of uncomfortableness at least for each of us. How should you respond to the haters? And, what about fellow Christians with whom you disagree?

 

Who are the haters?

Oh, a hater could be anyone; however, for this post, I am specifically talking about those who do not love the Lord, the Bible, or those who follow Jesus. Essentially, those who would disagree with God and take it out on those who follow God.

You do not need to look any further than the current abortion debate that rages online and in the public. These individuals speak with a vile tone and use hateful words to interact with those who do not agree with them.

Who else?

Those who quietly chip away and gnaw at morality in the culture. Individuals like those who have been outed at the Disney corporation who secretly sought to influence toddlers regarding gender, sexuality, and lifestyles consistent with LGBTQIA2S+, individuals at Twitter who have systematically through algorithms promoted a God-hating, anti-traditional agenda while denying it, and others. Those who hate God and anything associated with morality who fit the Romans 1 context. However, in today’s society, they are not willing to live and let live; instead, these individuals will not be settled until you agree with them. Along the way, they will try to influence you, your children, and your grandchildren.

These are the haters.

 

Who are the fellow Christians with whom we disagree? 

Again, it does not take a very long time to figure these individuals out as well. Inside this category of individuals we find those who disagree with us. Some, rather starkly. Others, more of a nuanced thing.

Some or many of these people are truly saved.

Others are not.

You and I cannot know nor do we try to differentiate between these individuals. God knows who are His. We simply know that they view the world, the Bible, and our culture differently than we. We assume that some are truly followers of Jesus Christ and others are not. When one of them claims to be a follower of Jesus, we accept what is said as true. Because of their choices, we may choose by wisdom to not fellowship with them; however, we realize that in heaven there will be those with whom we originally disagreed while on earth.

  

How Should You Respond to Both Groups?

Simple answer: with compassion.

You may wonder, Why compassion?

Let me explain.

For the haters…

For those who do not know Jesus nor are they known by Jesus, we must have compassion. Consider these two key Old Testament passages:

From Jeremiah to God…

Why are wicked people successful?
Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
You plant them like trees and they put down their roots.
They grow prosperous and are very fruitful.
They always talk about you,
but they really care nothing about you. (Jer 12:1-2)

From God to Jeremiah…

But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord. (Jer 12:17).

Asaph talking about those who do not follow God…

Surely you put them in slippery places;
you bring them down to ruin.
How desolate they become in a mere moment.
Terrifying judgments make their demise complete.
They are like a dream after one wakes up.
O Lord, when you awake you will despise them. (Ps 73:18-20)

For now, these haters of God look like they are successful, carefree, and winning. However, a time will come when God judges them out of His eternal justice. Jeremiah was right when He wrote that we can trust God’s justice. We can. Because of that justice, a terrible time awaits those who do not follow God, do not believe in Jesus, and reject Him.

Our response should be compassion.

Yes, those individuals can make your life hard now. They can influence culture, your children, your grandchildren, and others. However, we must not let these short-term gains influence us to respond in hate. We cannot return evil for evil. Instead, we must have compassion on them.

It looks like they are living their best life now. And, they are. Judgment looms. Their fun, fame, and fortune will disappear as if awaking from a dream. Wow.

For the fellow believers…

For those who say they follow Jesus Christ, they also face a future judgment. Paul wrote:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor 5:10).

Every person who is a true believer of Jesus Christ will also stand before God. Again, knowing this should both humble us and develop a strong sense of compassion toward those who also will stand before the Lord. As followers of Jesus Christ, we do not want any of us to miss out on crowns that we can give back to Jesus. As those who love Jesus, we do not want to have lived our lives in a less-than-honorable way.

 

Compassion – Not Discontentment, Disillusionment, or Discouragement

Out of our compassion, we pray for these people.

In humility, we carefully check our own hearts and pray for ourselves.

We pray to accept God’s plan both now and in the future. To trust God.

As Jeremiah and Asaph both struggled, we strive to not struggle with discontentment, disillusionment, or discouragement. Is it easy when it seems like those who have God near their mouth but far from their hearts are “winning”? Yes. However, we must trust God, understand the future, and know that the best thing we can have is compassion for those who will stand before the Almighty God.

May we carefully prepare as well.