Acts 19 - Removing The Blindfold

Much debate has been generated over many centuries regarding this little passage in Acts 19:1-7, and while we by no means uncover everything there is to unpack in this mystery, we try to chip away at it to see what nuggets the Spirit will show us. And while we have a nice, and edifying discussion over it, by no means is it the main point of our discussion. That title would be held by this statement: the true Gospel of Jesus Christ disturbs the normalcy of the world! The Truth of Heaven has always been, is, and will always be, offensive to the facade of this world. Jesus says that those who follow Him will be hated by those who follow the course of the world. Why? Because they love the comfort of the darkness and refuse to open their eyes to the sting of Light, so that they might actually see! In short, they refuse to take off the blindfold, mostly because we as the Church have become complacent in preaching the hard Truths of Scripture. We are called to love, but we must understand that we will never be loved by those who want to remain in darkness. Being hated isn't a popular commission (John 15), and it is not one we should seek to own! But being hated by the world is the result of being owned by God. Just study the life of Jesus, Paul, Peter, or any of the Apostles...and you will see, loving God often means being hated by the world. Are you willing to be hated in order to love well?