So, now, strong Christian friend, you seek to be less than what you are just to make others happy? Don’t! – unless someone’s life depends on it. Don’t deny or jettison your strengths to make people like you or to keep them from branding you ‘proud’ or ‘arrogant’. Sometimes people hate you not because you’ve done anything wrong but because they’re afraid of you; your strengths intimidate them. Remember the religious leaders in Jesus’ days? They hated him, not for anything wrong he said or did, but simply for whom he was. This man, who taught NOT as the scribes did but with AUTHORITY, simply freaked them out, and they wanted him dead. So, what’s important? Maintain clean hands, and a clear conscience. And walk on in love – love that can sincerely say “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” when the nails are driven in or the stones are hurled.
At the end of it all we each will account for how we managed our resources. Don’t just bury yours like that fellow in the Master’s ‘talents’ illustration, just because you don’t want to be picked on by others. Be the best and the most you can be while you still can!