Preparing For Persecution XXX

 We cannot view the prospect of persecution as some exception to the rule, as some out-of-the-ordinary experience a handful in a given generation were given to go through, but as something common to the followers of Christ, regardless of era or continent. If believers in a particular nation are spared persecution, they must be aware that it’s only for a time, only for a season, and it does not mean that it will never be visited upon them.

If we are not currently being beaten, maligned, imprisoned, tortured, and killed for the cause of Christ, we must see it as the grace that it is, not as the benchmark or the norm. There are more nations in the world today where persecution is standard than not. It’s like the silver spoon kids who grow up rich but never realize it because they think everyone else’s parents have three homes, an indoor pool, and vacations on their private yacht in the Maldives.

It’s not as though the devil’s hatred of God’s children has an off switch, and somebody flipped it after the Romans had their fill of the blood of saints wetting the Colosseum’s sands. The hatred never stopped; the vitriol never stopped; those who would take the lives of believers in service to evil have not ceased being willing to be its instrument. Throughout the ages, God has restrained their madness and allowed it sparingly, but faith untested is faith unproven. Throughout every generation, there are those who’ve had their faith tested and who’ve paid the ultimate price in service to their King. To them, it was the highest honor, yet to this present generation, the notion of being persecuted for Christ’s sake is viewed as a punishment and reprimand. Make it make sense.

Historically speaking, Smyrna was a prosperous city with much commerce, yet by Christ’s words, the believers were considered poor. Jesus did not consider them poor; on the contrary, He called them rich, but anyone who judged them based on their possessions and who used the world’s methods to gauge wealth would conclude that they were impoverished. Joel Osteen would have stood out like a sore thumb.

Our treasure is not to be counted in the physical possessions we’ve laid claim to, but whether Christ has laid claim to our hearts and we belong to Him wholly and unreservedly. Jesus knew all that they’d endured, yet His message to the church of Smyrna was that they were yet to endure more for His name’s sake. They were yet to be tested, they were yet to be thrown in prison, and some would have to endure unto death in order to receive the crown of life.

But that was then, and this is now, and all we have to do is wave a hand, pay Jesus some lip service, and off we go, meeting Him with the saints in the air before a hand can be laid upon us before a fist can strike our ruddy well-fed cheeks. Dare I say most of today’s church would feel out of place among the saints, among those who bled and died and suffered to their last, not denying the Christ, but that’s just an observation.

True soldiers tell war stories, not to boast but to remember those who have already gone to their reward and to glory in the providence of God that carried them through situations and circumstances they would have lost hope in, save for the promise of the glory, and the crown of life.

Fake soldiers relive the battles true soldiers have fought and armchair quarterback their actions, preening about how they would have done it differently. To have the audacity to insinuate that someone who saw their entire family being slaughtered before they themselves were martyred for being a believer could have avoided it had they believed in prosperity is beyond the pale.

Twisted doctrine will never lead to the straight path. Compromise in the small things will not make you faithful and immovable when the sacrifice you are called upon to make is greater than losing a job or being shunned by former faux friends. I agree with the sentiment that preparedness is critical, but I think those trying to sell buckets of gruel for a few hundred bucks are talking about something else.

Spiritual preparedness is paramount, and anything else God might have you do to prepare for what is coming takes second place every time. You can store, itemize, and label a thousand years’ worth of foodstuffs and water filters, but if you’ve not committed your ways to the Lord, sanctified the Lord in your heart, and given Him the place rightly His, it’s all for naught.

Jesus warns the church of Smyrna that they must prepare themselves to endure to the end. If you have a destination in mind and only travel halfway, then turn around, you never reach your destination. You started a journey you never finished, pursued a goal you never attained, and started a race you never finished.

Someone who’s preached a false Christ for all their life will not be willing to lay their lives down for the real Christ when called upon to do so. It just doesn’t happen. The foundation upon which they’ve built their spiritual house is shifting sand rather than the rock that is the Christ of the Bible, and so at the first tremor, the first sign of unease, they will retreat and cower in fear.

Those to whom Jesus was speaking had been faithful, endured, and suffered persecution, yet He insists that they must persevere and continue to be faithful to the end no matter what the enemy might throw their way.

The sad reality is that many today serve a god of their own making, one they’ve fashioned for themselves because they are unwilling to submit and humble themselves to the one true God. They were given license to do so by men who, while calling themselves shepherds, are no more than ravenous wolves seeking their own comfort and ease of life at the expense of the truth of the gospel.

Philippians 1:29, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake.”

Suffering for the sake of Christ is not a punishment, a curse, or something that comes about due to lack of faith, but a grace and a blessing. That someone is found worthy to suffer for His name’s sake is not something we should look upon as undesirable or off-putting but rather as something we gladly endure for the glory that will be revealed in us through it.

Those who do not understand this glorious truth of the gospel will bend and break under the weight of persecution. Those who do will shine like the sun, and their testimonies will be retold among those who likewise endured to the end.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.