Jesus was persecuted, the disciples were persecuted and so will
we. I feel that in this day and age that we live in people look down on you for
being a believer. The world makes it seem like it is a problem when you decide
to live your life for God. People are so quick to judge your actions- watching
your every move and waiting to pounce on you when you make a mistake, just so
they could sneer at you: “we thought you were a Christian”. I feel that people are just waiting to remind
you of where you had been before you accepted God and are waiting for you to
slip up and go back to the person that you used to be.
I have come to realise that not everyone is open about spirituality– I feel that it is that humanly nature of ours to compartmentalise
things. So we have made spirituality something ‘private’. People do not believe
that it is something that needs to be out there or if it is out there it is
appropriate on Sunday only. We have made God have a certain time and place in
the world so it is seen as something strange when Christians step out and become
radical about their faith. As soon as
you step out the “world” goes on attack- they question your spirituality and
criticise you.
However, this is what Jesus said would happen. In John 15:18-21
Jesus says: “if the world hates you, you know that it hated ME before it hated
you. You are not of the world so the world will hate you. If they persecuted
ME, they will persecute you… because they do not know Him who sent ME”. It is
said that the world hates you because the cross separated those that accepted
the Lord as their Saviour from the world. Thus, I believe that Jesus dying on
the cross for us was not in vain. Through this He freed us from the world and
its clutches. He also gave us the strength that we need to stand our ground
because we know that He has went through it too. His strength is made perfect
in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
We need to have the understanding that “blessed are those who are
persecuted” (Matthew 5:10). The choice to follow Christ means that we not only
share in His promises but also His suffering, keeping in mind that “the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). Therefore showing that our hardships as born-again Christians are not in vain either.
When we face challenges and persecutions we must hold the
scripture in 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 close to our hearts:
"We
are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are in doubt but not in
despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed. We will
always carry in our mortal bodies the death of Jesus, so that His life also may
be manifested in our body"