Our calling in life is to love one another and commit to the truth. This is not always a popular decision. It is not always understood.
Truth transcends all of our circumstances. Even when our seasons and settings are difficult, the truth remains. Many people fall away from walking in faith when they realize the cost.
There is a cost, but Paul considered it an investment. At the end of his life he comments on his suffering, saying “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” Paul considered his suffering like a heavenly savings account in God’s bank, that would be there on the day of judgment.
It takes courage and vision to suffer with purpose. It takes an eternal perspective. One that sees difficult circumstances as opportunities to make an eternal investment. It looks like foolishness to the world. We might bear the brunt of an “evil report.”
Nothing others do changes God’s instruction how best to seek our own self-interest. Speaking and living the truth, in grace, is the example Jesus gave us to follow.
So do not let circumstances or opinion derail your commitment to the truth of the gospel. No matter your circumstances, pursue righteousness. Love. The “cost” is an eternal investment, one with a guaranteed return.
“But in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true.”
– 2 Corinthians 6:4-8