Be your best, even if people hurt you for it

The more honest you are, the more the world will hate you. Normal people are dishonest, and the dishonest don’t take honesty kindly.¹ They always get angry,² and they frequently resort to violence.³ They respond this way because they have so thoroughly damaged their conscience that it is momentarily renewed when they hear truth, causing them to feel immense guilt.⁴

Too many people hold back the gifts God has given them because they realize early on that what God values is abominable to the world and to those whose hearts are still set upon it. Honesty is just one of the Lord’s attributes, all of which will increase the ire of the world the more they are manifested within you.⁵ Honest people say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done, even if other people hurt them for doing so.

To be excellent is to be hated, but the hate is stronger and begins much earlier than you might expect. It takes almost no level of performance to begin earning the hate of others. Most people detest those who excel them in some way. By living according to who you really are, you provide living proof that they could do the same, and this makes them feel guilty for choosing otherwise. It is hard to accomplish anything of worth in life without accumulating people who hate you. The better you become, the more those around you will actively resist you and the things you attempt to accomplish. Anyone who intends to always do their best should expect a life where the ratio of those who hate them to those who love them will grow as they do.

Don’t allow the faithlessness and fear of others to restrain you. Push through it, and prove to them that they, too, could be more by providing them an example of what better looks like. Not all people will choose to adopt the example of improvement you provide. Those willing to allow you to do your best even if they choose not to will still benefit a great deal from what you are able provide to them.

Sometimes, those around you will obstruct and discourage you, and they may threaten to distance themselves from you, even if they are your family or friends. Do it anyway. You never know when those who resist you for doing your best will suddenly change their course, support you, and improve themselves.

Many are tempted to hide their flaws in order to protect themselves from harm from others, but doing so causes greater harm to yourself and those you might otherwise help than it prevents to you. It is impossible to pretend to be someone other than who you really are without causing great damage to yourself in ways that extend further and deeper than what anyone else could do to you.

The better you are, the fewer people will see you that way. The brighter God’s light within you, the fewer the people will respond well to it. However, the brighter God’s light within you, the more it will mean to those who need it.

Being the best you can be is the most direct way to find the best people. Only the most exceptional people will admire you for being better than they. Only the meekest people will celebrate your victories independent of their own.