You can hear good things from people if you put your heart into the Word. However, there are limitations to this; think of Jesus.
When Jesus first preached the gospel, people liked it and thousands of people followed him and wanted to make him king. But as time went on, especially as it got closer to the time of Jesus' crucifixion, they wanted to accuse Him, condemn Him, and kill Him. As the number of such people increased, Jesus was put to death.
After that, so was Stephen, and after that, the early church, and the history after the early church, there were many people who suffered and died because of the gospel. Why? God's goodness and righteousness intersect but do not coincide with the world; the world doesn't like it when God's goodness and righteousness exposes the world's injustice and evil and reveals that the world is under God's judgment. That is why Jesus and many martyrs were killed.
So will we. Jesus said to follow Him; to follow the Word. Living by the words of Jesus. Living according to the Bible is not at an ethical level that people understand or accept. There are a lot of things that people like to see, but there are also a lot of things they hate, attack, and fight back.
So the holy people of God like to compromise; to some extent I live by faith (the part that people find good), and to some extent I don't live by faith (the part that people reject in their eyes). That alone would make me feel like I'm living by faith because I hear good things from people. No way!
No way!
When we say we live by faith, we must not only do good and righteous deeds that are pleasing to the world, but we must also live for the good and righteousness of God, which conflict with this world. In order to do that, you must have the strength of faith. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.”
Excerpt from Pastor Lee’s sermon on Oct 5, 2022.
Peter 1, 3:13-17