"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12)
As one who has never traveled to places where it is a serious crime to profess faith in Christ, it’s hard for me to imagine such surroundings. We all take for granted our ability to go to any church we please and to profess our faith openly. As much as we may decry the moral decay and the political polarization happening in our country, we need to remember just how good we have it. There are folks in our world who choose to daily practice their Christian faith under the continual threat of imprisonment or death. Such is a depth of dedication and courage I’m not sure I could muster under similar conditions.
Although we may not face such severe forms of persecution in the U.S., Christianity is nonetheless under attack here. God’s name has been systematically removed from all manner of public and even private functions. God’s expectations for how we should live our lives have gradually taken a backseat to the modern "virtues" of tolerance and political correctness. It’s a societal faux-pas and sometimes a civil crime to hold someone accountable for their actions, to offend their beliefs or sensibilities – unless that person happens to be a Christian. Such persecution is most often non-violent, but it is insidious and methodical. By comparison, this form of persecution has the capacity to do far more damage.
When I was in college, I took an elective course entitled "The Philosophy of Religion." I enjoy philosophy, so I was intrigued by the theories and discussions such a class would generate. I was dejected to find that the professor was highly intolerant of Christianity. He went so far as to say that Christians are "shallow" people. Others in the class argued with him while I sat in stunned silence, too timid and deflated to join the fight. The phrase "youth is wasted on the young" is the perfect application for this time in my life. If I were to take the same class today, I would have no problem standing up and articulating just how and why the professor is wrong. But this memory reminds me that there are many impressionable young people in our midst that are being poisoned by lies in the name of education. This is but one example of the insidious persecution daily occurring in the U.S.
The Bible tells us that as the time draws nearer for Christ’s return, society will become more and more immoral and people will become crueler toward one another. But the Bible also tells us that the Church will grow stronger. We already know how the story ends – our Lord wins. (He has already won). If we grow despondent in the face of our modern-day persecution as Christians, we can take heart in the fact that "one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord." Until that blessed time, we have a duty to help strengthen the Church, and we have the privilege of rejoicing in the truth of God, no matter what it costs us.
You and I may not be chained in a prison cell for professing faith in Christ, but we face daily restraints in a society that largely does not recognize the sovereign Lord. We can choose not to be closet Christians. We can choose to be like Daniel, facing the furnace and the lions if need be. We can choose to rejoice when our faith is assailed, for the simple reason that we have Truth on our side. All other ground is sinking sand.
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