Standing Alone – Strength and Hope in Hard Times
I shot today’s image through the window of a bus high up on a foggy mountain in the jungles of South East Asia. I was struck by the stark beauty of this tree that stood head and shoulders above anything else around it and only had a moment to snap the shot before we were past it, and the image was gone from sight.
I often think of that tree when I think of Christians. Like that lonely treetop, we stand out. It isn’t because we are better than other people; I know many more moral, caring, or honest people than plenty of Christians. We have no merit on our own. Only the grace of God preserves us.
We stand out because the Spirit is inside us and the world hates Him. The lost hate the Saviour and rebel against Him.
There is a myth that we are born innocent and are good people. All people are born with a sinful nature and sin by practice our entire lives. Those not called by the Lord oppose His chosen.
That means that every Christian will face some degree of rejection and persecution. Jesus said it would happen.
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. Luke 6:22-23
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11—12
Compared to what most of the world faces, North American Christians have had it pretty easy for centuries. Nominal, cultural Christianity kept the persecution mainly at bay.
That is changing. It is no longer popular to be a nominal Christian. Hatred of Christ and anything He stands for is increasing in every area of life.
We are seeing increased mocking and rejection. We will face ever-increasingly open hostility over the years to come (and sooner than many think). Churches will lose their charitable status. Pastors and leaders will face jail time for preaching against politically correct opinions. Prayer and displays of faith will be totally removed from the public arena. The Bible will be edited/banned to comply with whatever is in vogue at the moment.
Christians will find themselves faced with the choice to abandon their faith or lose their jobs and property.
That is nothing new. Throughout history, in varying degrees, the believer has faced trials. Even within the church, believers have sometimes hated and persecuted other believers. It has been that way since the early church.
Saul zealously persecuted the first believers. He was present at the stoning of Stephen and took many others to jail or their deaths. He was so zealous that he tried to expand his mission to destroy the faith out to Damascus.
Once He became a believer, He experienced everything he had wrought upon others, including eventual martyrdom.
In one of Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth, he writes, “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” 2 Corinthians 11:23-29
Will we face that? Perhaps, or maybe it will fall to our children and grandchildren. We cannot stop it from happening; that remains the job of God. We can prepare ourselves and those who follow.
How do we prepare?
We dig deep into the Word and teach it to our families. We pray. We encourage one another and continue meeting together. We trust in the Spirit and God’s goodness. We rejoice that God is glorified even in our suffering.
We must remember that God isn’t unaware of our sufferings, He walks with us, and Jesus has experienced suffering firsthand. He understands.
There is a cost to following Christ, but we don’t walk alone, and God will reward us.
Hold fast, whatever comes. Through our Lord, we have the victory even if the world takes everything, including our lives.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed.
Kevin.