The influential London Times was one of Abraham Lincoln's fiercest European critics during the Civil War. After he announced the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves, he was condemned by the paper as "a sort of moral American pope," destined to be "Lincoln the Last." But three years later, after Lincoln's assassination, the paper realized his greatness, eulogizing, "Abraham Lincoln was as little a tyrant as any man who ever lived. He could have been a tyrant if he pleased, but he never uttered so much as an ill-natured speech."

In the Christian life, there will be times when we must take an unpopular stand—at work, at school, even at church—and stubbornly stick to principle. We will be called all manner of names, but if we're in God's will, we will be vindicated, certainly in the next life, but sometimes in this one.