John 7:20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?”
Some of the most challenging people to love are those who are deceived as this crowd. They sought to kill or delete Jesus from their lives because they thought He was from the devil, which is a stunning, and unthinkable judgment of Him. They are the ones that are under the influence of demons, but don’t recognize it.
My heart goes out to these people. They are deceived and don’t know it. Satan has blinded their minds so that they cannot see the glory of God in the face of Christ, or see Him in anyone else, for that matter. Without God’s mercy, they perish.
As we live to love with Jesus, God will put people like this in our paths. They may be strangers, work associates, or hopefully not, but possibly family members. Loving them won’t be easy, but I’m sure we will discover that Jesus loves them. He was drawn to those who were spiritually blind and helpless. He loved them by speaking the truth to them, confronting their deception with good questions which could help them see where they are in relationship to Him. That’s what Jesus was doing with the crowd mentioned in chapter 7 of John.
If someone were to accuse you of having a demon, how would you react? How would you love that person? I want to encourage you to not take their accusations personally. That person’s conflict is with God. Until they are reconciled to God, they are going to have trouble with anyone who loves them in His name. They will react to the truth because they don’t want to do His will and have desires that run counter to walking in the truth and in love. Let’s be encouraged by Jesus’ love for people such as those in this crowd, of which we read in this chapter. May we be ready to humble ourselves, not take personal offense, pray for them, and when possible do them good.
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