Not a Chameleon

Scripture Reading: John 7:1–30

“After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.” — John 7:1

In seventh grade, I went to what was called the “501 dance.” You had to wear Levi’s 501 jeans to get in. The problem was, they came way too big, so my mom spent the whole day washing and drying them, trying to shrink them down. By the time I put them on, they were still damp. I showed up to the dance in wet jeans that kept stretching out more and more as the night went on. I felt ridiculous. But I didn’t care—I just wanted to fit in. Which, with my meager dancing ability, was going to be an impossibility.

That’s junior high, right? You just want to blend in. Avoid standing out.

The problem is… sometimes we never grow out of that.

Jesus warned his followers, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18)

Jesus is ministering at a time of real opposition.

It’s about six months before the crucifixion. The pressure is building. The hostility is real. There are people who want him dead.

We shouldn’t be surprised by opposition. What’s surprising is how little we’ve experienced it.

In many ways, that’s the anomaly.

If my grandpa were five-nine, bald, with tiny ears… and my dad was five-nine, bald, with tiny ears… and I show up completely different—that’s an anomaly, and of course that is not the case, I am also five-nine, and my ears have never been described as tiny.

For 2,000 years, followers of Jesus have faced pressure, rejection, and even persecution. So the question isn’t if there will be pressure. The question is—are we ready to stand?

In John 7, even Jesus’s own brothers don’t yet believe in him yet. They give him advice: “Go public. Build your following. Be seen.”

They want a popular Jesus.

And if we’re honest, we often do too. A Jesus who fits comfortably into our lives. A Jesus who draws crowds but avoids controversy.

His brothers could go to the feast anytime they wanted. Why? Because they fit in. They blended right into the world around them.

But not Jesus. “The world… hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” (John 7:7)

Why do people hate Jesus? Because he tells the truth.

He exposes sin. He declares that we are not fine as we are—that we need salvation.

And when you align yourself with him, it will confront others, too.

The danger is not that we’ll reject Jesus outright—but that we’ll slowly become chameleons. Adjusting. Blending in just enough to avoid the tension.

Charles Spurgeon said it well: “The reason why the church has so little influence on the world is because the world has so much influence on the church.”

So today, ask yourself:

Where am I tempted to blend in?

Because here’s the reality—those wet jeans didn’t actually help me fit in.

Trying to blend into the world while following Jesus doesn’t work. It just leaves you stretched out, uncomfortable, and unsure of who you really are.

Let’s stop being chameleons and stand for Christ.