Sometimes God’s people are arrested and beaten for their faith. Sometimes ruling powers of this world make them choose between renouncing their faith and death. Sometimes good people get thrown into bad places for doing the right thing.
There’s a spiritual war going on, and we shouldn’t expect life to be comfortable. The fact is that most of the people reading this (and the guy writing it) live in a level of luxury that is unprecedented in human history. But the notion that once you come to Christ you’ll never have to face difficulties, sickness, loss of job, poverty, depression, divorce, the death of a child or persecution for your faith is patently absurd.
Jesus Himself said, “In this world you will have trouble” (Jn 16.33). In fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt 6.34).
Trouble today and trouble tomorrow? Thanks a lot, Jesus!
That’s not the end of the story. But we cannot skip over it and jump to the happy ending just yet.
Evil is a real presence in our world, it is not an illusion. The forces of evil are powerful and clever, and they are intent on prying people away from God. There is a war going on, and it is not pretty.
Here’s the reason this is so important. Most of us have never really known poverty. Few of us will ever have to worry about being thrown in prison and tortured for our beliefs. We live in relative comfort and ease, in an age of unprecedented wealth and affluence. Certainly, this is a blessing in many ways. Many of us live in nice homes and eat good food, have drinkable water and access to good medical care.
But our comfort can be a kind of curse, as well. It’s made us soft. It’s made us forget that there are people, even people in our world today, who don’t have it so good. More people have been murdered for their faith in Jesus in the last 100 years than ever in history. There is a war going on still. Persecution is not just something the Church experienced in the book of Acts. Neither is it something that will happen one day during the Tribulation. It goes on today in places like Sudan, Indonesia, China and Afghanistan. It will continue until Jesus returns.
So, here’s the challenge for you. Stop taking your comfortable lifestyle for granted. Receive it as a gift from God, but don’t expect it to last forever. Don’t feel guilty for having nice things and for making good money, but realise that you’re called to use that wealth to further God’s purposes in this world (1 Pet 4.10). Remember those who are still persecuted for their faith. Pray for those who go to bed hungry tonight or who are imprisoned.
If you’re interested in doing more than sending happy thoughts, you might want to visit a couple of websites and get some information on how you can roll up your sleeves and get involved:
Voice of the Martyrs: www.persecution.com
Compassion International: www.compassion.com
The 410 Bridge: www.410bridge.org
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Your followers in this world have experienced more persecution in our time than ever in the history of the Church. Yet you have used this persecution to bring about greater commitment and zeal and to dramatically bring in a harvest of worldwide proportions. You foretold, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). We are privileged to see the great harvest at the end of the age before Your return. I thank You that Your Word is alive and active around the world. This is a time of unprecedented spiritual warfare, and we desperately need to submit to You and put on the full armour of God. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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