Persecution
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10
When we think of persecution, we rarely think of the kind of attack for sharing our faith that was commonplace when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. In those days, persecution meant beatings, arrest, imprisonment, even death. Yet the Bible and all of history are full of instances where bold men and women chose persecution over denial of our Lord.
Today, many of us think we are doing God a favor when we tell another about Christ, even though we were commanded to do so. And we think we are suffering real persecution when someone makes light of our faith.
There are places in the world where Christians can still be jailed for sharing their faith or face the death penalty for leading a lost soul to Christ. Most people in our society, however, don’t care what others believe in, or if they believe in anything.
The Christian faith has become a cheap faith because we too often live as if it has no value. We complain when the preacher runs over a few minutes on the Sunday sermon and consider it a great inconvenience to return to services once or twice more in the same week. No wonder so much of the world does not consider our faith relevant when we are not even willing to give of our time, much less our freedom or lives, for what we say we believe in.
Think about it. Have you ever been persecuted for sharing your faith in Christ? Has your faith cost you anything? If not, perhaps you had better reexamine your faith to see if it measures up to the One who said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11).
Our Father and our God, please forgive me for denying You so often with my words, my actions, and my thoughts. I know I have suffered so little for You and Your Son, who suffered so much for me. When persecution comes my way, help me to live as an image of Christ. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).