Being born again does not make us "nice people". God never intended that it should. Nor is heaven filled with "nice people". The new birth remakes us into His image--but not [immediately] complete. Just as babies require time to grow into mature humans, so also people born again by the Spirit and power of God require time to mature. It's just that, as we mature, we don't become "nice people"-- we become more like Jesus. And as we become more like Him, we won't be any more socially acceptable than He was.
Society is consumed by image and pretense and the superfluous. Society doesn't think it needs God--it's doing OK on its own, thank you very much. Society is dedicated to the proposition that it--and its individual members--can improve themselves if they just have the right amount of education or government or money or whatever.
Jesus attracted those who knew they could not save themselves or heal themselves--body or soul. Jesus attracted those who had come to an end of themselves.
The saddest people--the loneliest, the most not-at-peace people I know are those who are consumed with themselves and consumed with propping up the facade. People who have no time for God or His purposes. I am a work in process. I'm not completely 'there' yet. God help me!
If I will obey God, I will appear strange or crazy or distasteful to people around me--even to some who know me or are related to me. But if I will obey Him, I will understand Him better, and I will bring some amount of 'HIM' to somebody who needs Him--who need to believe in His love more than their doubts; who need to trust Him more and themselves less; who need to believe that there is still hope for them, and that God's love has the power to change them. Ultimately, those who know the Father's love finally have reason to love and accept themselves--because it rests on what HE says and not on what they have done.
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