Daily Devotional

There are many great promises in the Bible that can comfort us in times of difficulty. God promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And we are promised that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). There are many more.

Other promises in Scripture are... less comforting. Take the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Persecution is promised to all who seek to be committed followers of Jesus. Jesus Himself promised his disciples persecution on the night before his crucifixion: “A servant is not greater than his master... if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Talk about a bummer of a promise! But these passages are clear that persecution is part and parcel of the Christian walk on this earth.

But the promise of persecution is hardly emphasized by the American church. Even if we haven’t succumbed to the false gospel of “health and wealth,” we generally prefer a comfortable form of Christianity. We certainly suffer for Jesus on occasion... the whispered remarks of our co-workers around the water cooler, the angry social media tirades, and yes, even the forcing of our beliefs out of the public square. Hatred, discrimination, and tarnished reputations are still persecution, though not to the same degree as imprisonment, torture, and death. (And frankly, I anticipate fiercer, more overt persecution in America as the 21st century progresses.) But by and large, persecution is an anomaly for us, hardly an every-day reality for the American Christian.

Not so for many of our brothers and sisters around the globe. According to the Voice of the Martyrs, 1 in 7 Christians worldwide live under severe persecution. Or consider the World Watch List, published yearly by Open Doors. Huge swaths of the globe are colored red (extreme persecution) or orange (very high persecution), including China, India, Nigeria, and most of the Muslim world. And lest we think killing Christians ended with the Roman Empire, more Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all other previous centuries... combined. Almost 5,000 Christians were martyred last year, many of them in Nigeria.

I’ve met men and women who live with this reality of persecution.  My grandfather Monnie, one of Campus’ supported missionaries, travels around the world training persecuted pastors and church leaders. I accompanied him 7 or 8 times in high school. I sat and listened to the stories of these persecuted Christians, their sacrifice of jobs, homes, families, and all the comforts of life that we take for granted. But the exuberant love they have for their Savior, for whom they have given so much, overflows with every word they share. To see such joyful eyes in scarred faces is convicting, to say the least.

These men and women have suffered so much and given so much, I ponder. Would I be willing to do the same for my King? Am I prepared to “suffer the loss of all things... in order that I might gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8)? To add to my reflections, the persecuted Christians I met repeatedly affirmed that the difference between those who endured persecution and those who shrank in its face was their attitude before persecution started. Those who endured decided beforehand that they would follow Jesus, no matter the cost.

I think the American church could learn much from the persecuted church. Their commitment to the cause of Christ is awe-inspiring. But they desperately need our prayers as well. Persecution may be promised, but that doesn’t make it easy. The Voice of the Martyrs has an app (search for “VOM App”) that gives you a different country to pray for each day, a country where Christians are suffering for the name of Jesus. It’s been helpful for me to pray for the persecuted church; maybe it will help you as well. And as you pray, let the courage of our persecuted brethren inspire us to face whatever forms of persecution might come our way.

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."