How To Please Everyone and All the Time
Robert Wurtz II

Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
(Acts 9:31)

When Saul finally got genuinely saved, the churches that were dealt havoc finally could rest. There is a great truth here for those that pay close attention. There are people that come into our lives and make havoc, simply because they are moving in a perspective that is not of God. They mean well and may even believe they are right (from their point of view), but they are causing havoc in the your Christian life. Saul was such a person. He was a radical believer in Judaism and believed Christ to be false. He persecuted Christians to far away places. He was the unbelieving Jews ‘go-to’ guy for causing trouble in the churches of God. When he finally got right with God, the people still did not trust him. They were afraid of him. It took time for them to believe he had really changed. 

Fans and Followers

We recently watched a video series called ‘not a fan’ in which a man decidedly went from being a ‘fan’ of Jesus Christ to a genuine ‘follower’ of Christ. What was most revealing is how the man at first was willing to cut any one’s throat he had to in business in order to prosper, but when he finally got right with God ‘for real’ then he went back and made all that bad business right. The consequence was that his finances dropped and they had to move to a smaller home. All the while his wife, that was supposedly a believer as well, rode him like a rodeo bull. She was always trying to make this dear man feel like he was abusing his family for ‘Jesus’ or ‘the church’. She would roll her eyes and make jestures and comments to resist almost anything that was truly a Christian attitude or endeavor. She wanted a comfortable add-on Jesus. She was totally not on the same page as her husband. It even effected the kids because the house was divided. She felt resentful and acted hateful- making his life almost a living hell at times. Just being honest. He was living out Jobs (Jobes) worst fear (that his wife would curse God), but in slow motion. Not that she cursed God with her mouth, but she resented every time the man sacrificed time with family or money for the poor or for the church or for Christ that ‘could’ have gone to the family, etc. Even after the man died she still seemed to be resentful and out-of-touch with who this man was. She was clealy a fan and he was clearly a follower of Christ. There can be no peace when you have that mixture in a group. This dear father and husband, that could have lived like the devil and any other sinner, could have divided his family into the two groups simply based on the attitude described above.  

How to get everyone to get along?

You probably thought I would have some grand ideal? Very simple. When everyone truly gets right with the Lord, become followers and not fans, then they will move in a selflessness that sees life totally different than those that are earthbound. the man’s wife stressed him out all the time trying to force him to choose between the family and God. And this is a ‘selah’ moment for those that will hear; the only reason he was having trouble with her is because she was not on board with really serving God. That’s all it was. If she would have loved God in a way that was genuine they would have been equally yoked together. He never let her hold him back, but he died knowing his wife was just a fan and not a follower. He wrote about his struggles in his diary as a reminder to us of how conflicting ‘fan/follower’ families can be. Perhaps this is why we are told not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. It’s hard to pull together if the two are not agreed. One will have to relent to have peace. Who will it be? Will it be the follower or will it be the fan?