Can Animosity be Appropriate?

Galatians 6:14-15

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."

The answer to the question in the title is "Yes!" While reading the end of Galatians, I was struck by the way in which God inspired Paul to write about his relationship to the world. They both had been crucified to each other. This is a serious, intentional, and "all in" description. No one was ever accidentally crucified. Crucifixion did not take place on a whim. It was the most serious form of capital punishment reserved for those who would rebel against the rule of Rome. God is telling us that our Christian existence is an existence of extreme opposition--believers verse the world.

God calls us to live "crucified to the world," and that the world should be "crucified to us." This means that we must intentionally attack worldliness and sin within our lives. There is no room for love or longing of that which God hates. We must have animosity--great hatred--for all that which is opposed to Christ. Furthermore, since we belong to Jesus, there is not room for friendship with sin. The world should know that we are believers, and, while there is no room for ugliness or self-righteousness, (we are called to love people to Jesus) it should be obvious that we are on God's side alone.

So instead of allowing sin or self-righteousness to grow within us, let us pursue Christ wholly. Let us experience the radical transformation that God can bring. Let us allow the Lord to complete and perfect us into His image.