I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 21st of December, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of John 1:11:

“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” 

Then we go to the Book of Isaiah 53:3:

“He is despised and rejected by men,…”

Are you feeling unpopular at this time of the year? It is the festive season, it’s the time that people say, “Let’s let our hair down and let’s have a party!” Now, there is nothing wrong with having a party. I am talking about the office party, the end-of-year party, and let’s go for it. And you say, “No, I don’t sleep around. No, I am not a drunkard. No, I am not part of those filthy pornographic jokes.” And all of a sudden, you are not so popular, are you? And somebody said, I don’t know if it was DL Moody or one of the great evangelists, he said, “If everybody has got something good to say about you, be sure Jesus has got nothing good to say about you!” It’s funny, but it’s not funny, is it?

I am thinking particularly of the younger people today. When you become a senior man or a woman, people know who you are, whether you like it or not, you have been branded, but when you are a young person, you want to be in with the crowd, but you don’t want to drop the ball, then you start getting tempted by the devil and he uses people. 

Matthew 12:30 says,

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”

Basically, you can’t serve two masters. Either you are serving the Lord Jesus Christ or you are serving the world. You don’t have to try and become unpopular. All you have to do is stand up with a Bible and what it stands for, and you will automatically become extremely unpopular and criticised for lots of things that you have never even said. Tell me about it!

Oh, but my dear friend, it is worth it all because that great day when the Lord comes again, it’s not too far away, it will be wonderful when He can identify you from the crowd, when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come, come and enter into your rest.”

Have a wonderful Christmas time without compromising your faith.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.