We have been beaten, jailed, and mobbed; we have been overworked and have gone without sleep or food.  – 2 Corinthians 6:5

I maintain that the biggest enemies of Christianity are ease, comfort, and convenience.  As long as we have one or more of those things, we really don’t think we need God.  I also maintain that the words “Christian” and “church” are no longer useful.  Nobody in the Bible ever called themselves a Christian.  They used “disciple,” or “follower.”  As far as church is concerned, Jesus said He would build it.  He never meant physical buildings, but when we say, “let’s go to church,” that is what we mean.

Nearly 100% of my witnessing conversations this year have been with people who say they are Christians who used to go to church.  Yet, in almost no context would anyone look at their lives and say, “here is a disciple who follows Jesus.”  I’m not dogging them at all, I lived in this place for years.  Even now, I can go through the motions and look the part without being the part.  

Look at the verse again, have you or I had any of those things happen to us because of your faith in Christ?  Only very recently have they begun to happen to me, and most certainly not to any kind of extent that they were experiencing.  The closer I get to God and the more I walk in step with Him, the more hell’s fury seems to come at me, my family, and those I love.  

I think I’m going to begin reading Foxe’s Martyrs again.  Somehow reading story after story of followers who died for their faith rejuvenates my own.  I wonder often how so many of those guys sung songs to God while they burned alive.  I can only assume that God gives them the strength, courage, and determination at exactly the right time.  The Bible says that the righteous have never been forsaken. Never.

Almost all of those stories have an element of, “If you simply deny Christ, persecution will end, you will go free, and all will go back to normal.”  I feel that way right now.  I feel like the offer is on the table that if I will simply stop pursuing Jesus so fervently, then evil will leave me, my family, and those I love alone.

Are any of you guys feeling anything similar?

Lord, I know what I want in this life.  I want You!  I want my family to know You.  I want my friends to know You.  I want strangers that I strike up conversations with to know You.  Hell hates it when I try to make this happen.  Yet I know that You have conquered hell, death, and the grave.  As a spoiled American, I want to be able to witness free of persecution, but there aren’t any examples in the Bible where that happens.  All that to say, Help me Jesus!  Fill me with Thy Holy Spirit that I might be found spotless.  There is and never will be another like You.  I love You!  Help all who read today to become true disciples who love and follow You and Your ways.  Amen.