Matthew 10
PERSECUTION

In one of the many times Jesus and other New Testament writers speak about the persecution of the followers of Christ, Jesus said this: “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10 v 22).

There are two things to note here. The first is that persecution comes because of our relationship with Jesus. This might seem hard to imagine at the moment, especially if we are living in a tolerant western culture, but things can change very quickly.

Jesus did not say that SOME people would hate us because of him, he said that ALL men would hate us because of him. It appears there will be a real swing in attitude toward Christians.

The second point to note is what we should do about it. Stand firm. When persecution comes, the end will not be far away. Don’t give up. It would seem so much more hopeless if we were not expecting to be persecuted. If we were surprised by it, we would feel like giving up. But we have been warned. Now that we know we will probably be persecuted, we can anticipate it, stand stronger and be prepared to stand firm.

Let’s not let persecution take us by surprise, but determine to stand firm no matter what happens until our Lord returns.

May our faith and strength grow stronger through the coming year.

With love in our Lord,
Robert

Poem: God at the Beach

New on the Thinky Things website this week is a poem about how summer in New Zealand (yes, it’s summer right now) points us to God. It’s called God at the Beach. Find it at https://thinkythings.com/home/short-stories/

Robert Prins

http://www.thinkythings.com
email: robert@thinkythings.com