PERSECUTION – A BIBLICAL APPROACH

Any kind of persecution is not pleasant to bear. It is not only painful, but is also, mentally, physically and emotionally, draining. The Bible, tells us plainly and clearly that, Christians will be persecuted…
– “12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it” – 2 Timothy 3:12-14

The LORD Jesus’ words on the persecution of all who wish to follow Him. Jesus warned all His disciples that, they will face opposition and hatred, and that they will be persecuted for His name’s sake.
– “18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.” – John 15:18-21

There is a strange and invisible link between the purity of Christian life and the persecution we face. The more pure and close we live to God, the more the Christian is persecuted. This is a strange, but a true paradox. This is what the apostle Paul was teaching his young apprentice, Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12.
– “One of the greatest paradoxes in Christian history is that the church is most pure in times of cultural hostility. When things are easy and good, that is when the church most often goes astray. When Christianity seems identical with the culture and even when the church seems to be enjoying its greatest earthly success, then it is weakest. Conversely, when the church encounters hardship, persecution, and suffering… then it is closest to its crucified Lord, then there are fewer hypocrites and nominal believers among its members, and then the faith of Christians burns most intensely.” – Gene Edward Veith 

May we learn to walk the “Narrow Way” depending upon the LORD Jesus Christ, and leaning upon His written Word, the Bible, to illuminate our path, our hearts, and our minds. May the Bible and what it says, be the source of our strength, and the foundation upon which, we build our Christian lives. Even so, the LORD help us.