In my studies this past week I came across a helpful insight from a commentary written by John Oswalt that covers Isaiah chapters 40-66. The focused Scripture of his comment is Isaiah 66:5 which says:

“Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy;’ but it is they who shall be put to shame.”

Oswalt reminds us that becoming a worshiper of the true God does have a cost. He writes:

To be wholly given over to God, to make his ways the very focus of one’s life, is to become an embarrassment to those who will not choose that way. It is to become fanatical, unbalanced, afflicted with tunnel vision, and a host of other epithets. It is to be shut out of the centers of power. It is to take the way of the cross… In many ways, this pain is the more intense because it is supposed “brother and sisters” who inflict it… those with whom we share a similar tradition and outlook.

Remember Jesus came to his own and they did not receive him (John 1:11).