Over the years we have received a wide variety of negative, harassing, hateful, and hurtful comments from others in regards to our “Finding God in Video Games” mission and message… and if I am being honest, they get in my head more than I care to admit. My most recent favorite is the one that let me know that they don’t even believe in God, but they wished that both God AND hell was real so that I could spend eternity there. I don’t know about you, but I thought that one was just a LITTLE bit extra. I try not to take most of these personally, but that one kind of stuck with me for a minute. For a moment, I considered responding and I even thought of a few mildly clever and sarcastic things to say in response… answers that would not come from a place I would be proud of and would represent the opposite of our mission to reach others for Christ. So after a few seconds of pondering what to do with this unwanted feedback, I did what I have done with every other negative message and comment we have received… I deleted it and moved on. I didn’t want to… in my heart, I wanted to either respond with similar vitriol or ask why they have nothing better to do than attack a little family who is simply trying to spread positive messages in an increasingly dark world. But then I remembered what James had to say about the wrath of man NOT producing the righteousness of God, and I deleted it and let it go.

James 1:20 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

The reality is that giving into anger may provide a temporary feeling of satisfaction, but allowing the words and actions of others to determine our own reactions is a decision we will ALWAYS regret… and in our war against the spiritual forces that are the TRUE enemy that servants of the Lord face (Ephesians 6:12), we aren’t even addressing our real opposition with our written or verbal responses. While the attacks of flesh and blood participants in this war for souls can hurt us in many ways, the way that we choose to address them can not only compromise our message, but they actively pull us away from our respective mission fields while we take our precious time and energy addressing them.

We shouldn’t be surprised by the extreme pressure and persecution we will receive when the Lord chooses to use us… we should EXPECT our enemy to try to abuse us. Everyone from Noah (who was just trying to build an ark to save people), Moses (who spent the rest of his life leading rebellious people to their Promised Land), to Christ Himself (who literally died for us) were called names, mocked, ridiculed, and hated on by both strangers as well as family during their respective missions to help others and save souls. But we cannot allow the negative, rude comments from others to pull us off of our mission to address them… as Nehemiah showed us in his incredible example of faith and fortitude under fire while rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, we should only have one response for the “haters” who come out of the woodwork to tear us down.

Nehemiah 6:3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”

No matter what size mission field we are serving, we can either continue doing “the work” that the Lord has given us to do on His behalf or we can take the low road that these negative and unproductive discourses offer to “prove our point” in a battleground that offers no victors, only casualties. Rather than allow the attempts of others to tear apart our confidence or distract us from our primary mission, let’s shake the dust off of our feet and just keep on walking (Matthew 10:14). Every minute we give to those who seek to grab our attention is a minute we could have spent showing His love and grace through either our positive actions or decision NOT to engage… and with our limited time on this planet and the reality that we will answer for EVERY word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37), let’s not waste ANY of them on fruitless pursuits. Let’s keep doing the good work and remember that they didn’t exactly treat Christ well during His time down here… and all who choose to follow Him should expect similar treatment. But Jesus chose to forgive those who ridiculed Him even in the place of His deepest physical and spiritual suffering… so I guess we can just delete those negative comments and move on without responding in kind. The low road is full of traffic for a reason… and it is that “standstill” kind of traffic that isn’t going anywhere. Our wrath doesn’t produce His righteousness, no matter how well we articulate it… so let’s follow Christ’s example, take up our cross, and take the high road in every opportunity today.

• Like us?  Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, or YouTube for our articles, podcasts, and videos!
• Facebook: Finding God in Video Games
• Twitter: @FindingGodIn_VG
• Instagram: Finding God in Video Games
• Podcasts on Spotify/Apple/Google: Finding God in Video Games
• TikTok: @FindingGodInVideoGames
• YouTube: Finding God in Video games
• Our Daily Devotional book “This is the Way Scripture of the Day” is available for purchase here!: