PERSECUTED FOR THE FAITH

Have you ever been persecuted for your faith in Jesus Christ? Hafe you ever been maligned for taking a hard stand on an issue, a righteous and consistent stand? Sometimes such opposition come our way and it almost become unbearable as we try to say adn do what is right. You find that you have become the brunt of criticism, unfairly or the subject of jokes and ridicule, even though your decision was the correct one. Though it is tough, we are not to back away from our stand if it is a biblical one and one which we know to be the will of God.

Such opposition is not new, however and God’s people have depended upon His strength for centuries to stand and hold the righteous ground for His glory. Much of the time the enemies we face are from without the camp and act in ignorance or outright hostility to the Bible. David, in the Psalms spoke of many such enemies who were enemies of his because they were enemies of his God.

Most criticism against Christians comes from those who don’t know our Savior. Other may be believers but have left the fellowship of Jesus to wrongly side with another person on some issue, many times in which they are ill-informed or uninformed. King David prayed many times for God to spare him from his enemies, on all fronts and He did, repeatedly.

Elish the prophet had enemies, too. They were enemies among the people to whom he preached and taught the Word of God. They were very babyish in their faith and did not want to conform their lives to God’s pattern of life. Maybe you know someone like that. Maybe you are like that, but God offers help and hope if you are.Many of the young men among them mocked their preacher, the prophet Elisha. Elisha was faithful to the ministry that God had put before him and went about doing what he kneew to be the will of God and preached and taught the Word daily. When the people persisted in their tirade, God stepped in and spared Elisha. How?

In 2 Kings 2: 23, the young men mocked the prophet and he “cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tore forty and two [young men] of them” (verse 24). Paul the apostle had similar problems rejection and villification from the Corinthians, the Jews, the Romans, the Gentiles and the Pharisees. He’d been beaten, sneered at, mocked and made fun of for the message he preached, the life he led, the Lord he served and the churches he started. He endured because he knew that God would repay every word and every action, now or later.

Whether God intervenes now or later, He will intervene and judge correctly. That should be encouragement for us who love Jesus Christ and His gospel. It should serve as a warning to those who would mock Him, His Word, His people and His preachers. A just God judges justly. And being a holy God, He wishes to save you from sin. Jesus died to save you by being the substitute for you in the payment for your sin. Through faith in Him and His Word, the Bible, you may experience a new birth and a new life.


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