Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or
curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was
popularity, I wouldn’t bother being Christ’s slave. Galatians 1:10 (TM)

I’ll admit it. I want people to like me. I would even like to be popular. It’s a lot more pleasant to be liked than to be hated. But, even as popular as Jesus was for a brief time – He knew that the applause was fleeting, the crowds were fickle, and ultimately the crowd who hailed Him as king would scream for His death. The point is not popularity. Truth isn’t always p.c. The goal is to be like Jesus…and He made it perfectly clear that following Him requires the discomfort of taking up a cross and the pain of dying to self.

As Bonhoeffer reminded us – God’s grace is free, but it’s not cheap.