2 Timothy 3:12
“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Many years ago, I was mentoring a young woman at my church who, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, made a decision to pursue holiness particularly in the area of entertainment and leisure activities. She began to be very godly and discerning in her movie and tv show selections. Do you know who gave her the hardest time? Not her secular work buddies, but her sisters in Christ!!!! That was eye opening for both me and my friend! We realized that following hard after Christ can be threatening to especially those in the family of God! For a while, my young friend had to avoid socializing even with her Christian friends in order to be able to avoid movies etc that were not godly. She did so with humility and prayer! Her secular friends, by the way, admired her for sticking to her convictions! Interesting, eh?
Well, God in his kindness helped my young friend maintain some of those friendships that still continue to this day but it was rough going for a while but she persevered in her convictions!
So, my prayer is that I continue to pursue holiness in humility and perseverance, knowing that I may get the rolling of the eyes from even some of my closest friends and family… I think the key here is to pursue holiness in “humility”… yea, you can pray for me that way. :)