I remember how everything changed when I first came to Jesus.  The things that appeased and entertained me before no longer appealed to me.  I did not try to think differently about them as an act of my own will. They just no longer appealed to me.

It was as if someone had flipped off a switch inside of me and turned on another switch that lit up a whole new set of desires and priorities.  Before Jesus, I would run to do the things that I thought would make me happy, thinking I was having the best time of my life.  After coming to Jesus, my old friends didn’t understand me.  They wanted me to do the things I did before coming to Jesus because they were still doing them.  They would offer me substances, opportunities that before Jesus I would have jumped on, but all of a sudden, I would say no thank you.  I simply had zero desire for them. I would talk about Jesus with them, and they would say I was ruining their good time.  They tolerated me for a time.  I think they were hoping to turn back to my old ways.  But when they would get away from me, they would laugh and talk about me as if I was some sort of weirdo and kill joy now.  Eventually, because they had no desire for Jesus, they had no desire for me either.  Their love for that kind of life without Jesus appealed more to them and resulted in them no longer enjoying my friendship, and some even turned against me altogether.  They wrote me off.

The fact was, they were still of the world, and I had been made into a new creation by Christ Jesus and was no longer of the world.  I was experiencing what the Apostle Peter spoke about in his letters in the Bible.

1 Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

The world wants you and I to fit into the mold it casts.  Various groups desire that you fit into their mold in order to be accepted and approved of, which means thinking as they think and doing as they do.

But when Jesus makes someone a new creation, the internal motivation of life is no longer rooted in sin.  The internal motivation becomes life, and it flows from the DNA of real righteousness and true holiness, which is Christ Himself.

A new creation has a totally different spiritual DNA that seeks to take over and influence all of life for that believer in Jesus.  What once was is no longer true for the person who is born again.  They see things in a completely different way now.  The result of this transformation leads to a new set of problems for the believer in Jesus.  Where they once fit in, they are now an aggravation towards.  It is not intentional.  The differences are just too stark now between the two very different motivations and pursuits. It really is like starting a whole new life in many ways. The world cannot accept authentic new creations lovingly and warmly.  Jesus prewarned us about this.

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The church will never win a popularity contest with this world.  Therefore, it should not be a focal point and priority of any group of believers to achieve acceptability among those of this world.  Our goal should be to bring change and influence.  Some would argue that the only people Jesus ever had a problem with were the religious leaders and that believers today only have issues with religious institutions.  Although Jesus did not approve of the corrupt religious leaders of His day, it does not mean that is the only group that chooses to dislike true followers of Christ.  Corrupt dead religion is just another group within this spiritually dead world.  To think Jesus was only hated by the dead, corrupt religious leaders of His day would be shallow thinking. When a person lives a changed life because of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in their lives, it is a testimony of the differences between dark and light, life and death, righteousness and unrighteousness.  Living changed is light turning on a bright spotlight in the darkness you were once a part of. A new creation changed person enjoys Jesus, and that is not highly popular with those who love this world.