Skip to main content

This Problem May Be Just What We Need



  
All my life I have heard people in prayer thank God for the blessing we have in this country to be able to worship without any fear persecution from authorities.  I’m not “a prophet or the son of a prophet” but with the changes in our modern word, I wonder if that will be the case for much longer.  That might seem a radical idea to some but consider how quickly our world is changing in how it thinks about moral issues (homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, etc) and how quick it has become to pass laws to control “undesirable” behavior and thinking.  I not sure that an expectation of increased political pressure on churches is too radical a guess, however let me say something even more radical:

I’m not sure we should be thanking God that we are not persecuted more.

 I'm thinking about Acts 5:41, 
“So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”
 I’m thinking about 1 Peter 4:13-14,
“but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
 I’m thinking about Philippians 1:29,
For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
   In the Bible, the church grew fastest and spread further because of persecution not because of the lack of it.  A person that has faced no persecution for his beliefs can never be sure how committed they are to their faith. A person that has never doubts.  The scripture tell us clearly in 2nd Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” but more often now what we call persecution is more inconvenience than true persecution.
  
   What the Lord’s church might be in need of are those that will show the ultimate example of trust in God by remaining faithful even when the hedge is “taken” away.  Martyrs who's faith can’t be denied because they truly have suffered for it. Those that receive the blessings of those worthy of suffering for the cause of Christ rather than those that have it “easy”.  
    I wonder if this lack of suffering has made us soft.  We complain so much about our inconveniences, when everything isn't just the way we like it, all these minor issues that become trivial when we face true concerns.  Maybe having to worship in the tombs, knowing that if we are caught it could mean our life, might be the only cure for our pettiness.
   The thing that we been so happy to not have all these years may just be the thing the church today needs to get it closer to God.
1st Peter 5:9-10

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Until Midnight

    In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back.       I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mighty Gulf

  It is hard to get people on two sides of an issue to come together. Each has their own viewpoint, their perceptive, their own foibles, their own understanding.  To gain any common ground there must be something in common. Something or someone that can bridge the gulf between the two.   Could there be a greater gulf than there was between God and man? How could a holy perfect God find a way to connect to the fallen, imperfect mankind? How can one without temptation connect to those who are beset by it? How could limited mortal beings understand an omnipotent eternal God?   In 1 Timothy 2:5, we read, “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus .” The phrase mediator here describes a person that bridges the gap, a go-between. Jesus was one who could stand in both worlds. A perfect holy one who can understand our temptations, a man who would die yet live eternally, One who was God yet became flesh and dwelt among us. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Dare You!

    Lewis Keseberg was tired of all the accusations against him so he filed a defamation lawsuit against Ned Coffeemeyer the man he saw as responsible for the rumors. The court found that Ned had indeed called Keseberg a “thief and murderer” without any proof but it didn’t rule very strongly in his favor by only imposing a fine of one dollar.  Maybe they were lenient because Ned Coffeemeyr had earlier rescued Lewis Keseberg from a terrible situation.  Maybe it was because the accusations while not proven were highly likely.  And maybe because Lewis Keseberg had admitted to eating people.   Lewis Keseberg was one of the members of the infamous Donner Party, a wagon train that got caught in the Siera Nevada mountain and resorted to cannibalism to survive. Keseberg wasn’t known as a very good person before those events and they certainly didn’t help improve his image. But to sue the very person who saved you seems to define the kind of person he was....
Post a Comment
Read more