On Guard

DEVOTION
2 TIMOTHY
ON GUARD
2 Tim 4:14-15
14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. 15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
NIV
I thought the idea was to evangelize those who did not know Jesus. But maybe there are certain individuals who are so violently opposed to the message of Jesus Christ that I should make every effort to avoid them at all cost. I do not think that I know anyone who has done me a great deal of harm in the sense of hurting my ministry for the Kingdom of God, of defaming my character in an effort to destroy my credibility as minister of Christ. I do know some people who are strongly opposed to the message, but they seem to be content with just refusing to accept it and leave it at that. They accept the fact I believe the message and are not offended by my attempting to share it with them, but they are strongly opposed to the truth of it and refute the validity of the message rather than me personally, at least to me face. Perhaps to my back it may be another story all together, but I am not aware of them coming behind me and destroying any efforts I may exert for the Kingdom. Maybe I am not being bold enough and outspoken enough in the world of the unsaved. Maybe if I were out there louder and up close with more of them I would get more and stronger opposition and maybe even to the point that this Alexander fellow did. But that is not the best situation either. I do not think I should do just to get the opposition for then I would be creating a situation whereby these who oppose might actually do me harm and would be getting repaid by God. I do believe it is a good idea to know those who oppose the message strongly so as to not get sucked into a stupid worthless debate, especially in front of others who may not have an opinion about the message yet. It is not always worth trying to convince this kind of person who opposes the message. I think just shaking the dust off my feet may not even be enough in this case. Avoidance is the standard of the day here, or if I cannot avoid them for whatever reason, maybe I should just remain silent about the message, not casting pearls before the swine, so to speak. Wondering around in my mind over this, not sure about how openly this kind of opposition is in the cultural I live in, but know it does exist. I think I simply just need to be on guard.