I Don't Like It

Comfort, prestige, home and health.  These and many more creature comforts have overtaken the mindset of Western Christianity.  One day, Jesus is shared and the unthinkable happens...you are laughed at or someone disagrees with you.  We call it persecution, and by definition, it may be.  You do not like it.  How can you make sure that never happens again?  This is not what you signed up for when you became a Christian.  So here is a helpful guide to quit the horrible persecution you have endured.

Ways to NOT be persecuted:

1. Refuse to share Jesus with others

This is simple.  Keep your faith hidden.  Live in total disobedience to the command of Jesus and you will not have to be concerned with other people.


2. Do not pray that people will respond to the gospel

Prayer is a weapon.  Do not fight for the souls of those who are headed to a Christless eternity.  Fall deeper and deeper into carnality and persecution will not be yours.

3. Live a "normal" life, similar to everyone around you

If no one can tell that there is something different in your soul, then you should be able to just cruise through life.  Chase money, power, fame.  Live in idolatry and worship anything other than God.  Show up to church for weddings, funerals, Easter and Christmas.  Work on Sunday.  Do anything and everything you can to fit into the world system around you.


When you live in obedience to the call of Jesus on your life, you will experience persecution.  It has been said that the more you live on mission, the more persecution you will have.  We have much to be grateful for as the children of God.  For those that live under the realm of freedom, be sure to never take that for granted.  One way to show your gratefulness is to be actively talking about Jesus to those within your sphere of influence.  As you do, expect pushback.


"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 

2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Now Is The Time To Stand For Truth

 Our world is full of accusations, allegations, condemnations, retaliations, polarization, victimization, and the list goes on and on.  What are we, as believers in Jesus Christ our God and Savior, supposed to do with all of these things?  How do we respond biblically?  The answer is simple, but it is not easy.  We stand for biblical truth. Let me give you three ways that are just the tip of the iceberg, but help us on our way to living out biblical truth. 1. We stand on the rock, Jesus Christ.          The believer cannot stand alone, nor even without the help of Jesus. Peter and Paul both remind us what the prophet states about Jesus by declaring,  “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” (Romans 9:33; 1 Peter 2:8 NASB) When those we look up to as models fail and fall we must look past them to Jesus Christ the Lord who is the only One in whom we will never be disappointed.  Every other person will fail an
Read more

Preached At, Not Taught To

Image
How many times have you wished that your kids had a full relationship with God?  Working in youth ministry for close to two decades I cannot count the times where teens or collegians are told to develop spiritual disciplines in their lives.  They are told that these habits will deepen their walk with the Lord and help them to rely on Him while building their faith.  Yet that is where it stops.  It is as if we tell each generation, you get a good relationship with God.  When the push back of "Why?" comes the response is often no more than a spiritual "Because I said so."  We cannot expect teens/college kids to do the spiritual disciplines we have preached, but not taught. 1. "Because I said so" does not work How many times have you used that with your children.  I remember growing up I thought to myself, "That's dumb.  I will never say that to my kids."  I do not remember the first time I used it on my little ones (at the time) but I know
Read more

When Life is Hard

Image
There are difficult things in life to understand, many of which, let's face it, we don't.  There are some who, at times, act like they understand.  For example, when the grandchild explains to the grandparent about all that is needed to beat the video game, talks about the hidden stages, and uses characters by name.  The grandparent nods, mutters mmmhmmm and ok, but has no clue what is going on.  You know, moments like those.  Yeah, sometimes life is hard to understand.  What happens when you don't know which way to go, what is happening, or why it is happening to you.  How can you explain your life, your faith?  What if you have trouble understanding it all. 1. Live on mercy As Christians, we can live on one of three levels. We can return evil for good, which is the satanic level. We can return good for good and evil for evil, which is the human level. Or, we can return good for evil, which is the divine level. Jesus is the perfect example of this latter approach (
Read more