The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that. Proverbs 29:25 (TM)
For believers, our goal is to be Christ-like in our intentions, our thoughts, our words and our actions. Yet, it is foolish to think that being Christ-like will make us popular or allow us to be at peace with everyone. Remember that Jesus:
- was almost thrown off a cliff by the people of Nazareth (his hometown)
- was despised by the religious leaders to the point they put a price on his head
- had disciples who were constantly frustrated and perplexed by his actions and teaching
- was thrown out of or shunned by multiple towns
- cast out demons only to be threatened by the pig farmer whose pigs the demons went into
- was betrayed by one of his own
- was given a death sentence by public opinion.
Christ-likeness and popularity do not go hand-in-hand. In fact, I find that trying to be universally liked will only sabotage my efforts to be like Jesus.
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21 If you let people treat you like a doormat,
you’ll be quite forgotten in the end.
One of the things I struggle with at sales is being assertive. I try to respect my customer to the utmost, at times to a fault. I have been learning that I have to push myself out of my comfort zone to be more “professionally aggressive”. If I let my customers treat me as a lesser, I won’t be remembered. There are times to push the envelope a bit.