There is one complaint that I hear all the time from many different people: This is too _______ (stressful, much, overwhelming, insane, etc.). Why does life have to be so hard? As a Christian, persecution is an experience of a lifetime for each of us. The question that I've had on my heart to share with each of you is this: "Is it worth the pain?"
I was listening to a song that has become a quick favorite of my brother, Mitchell and I called "Worth the Pain" by Disciple, and it talks about persecution as a Christian. The song opens up saying "The light at the end has faded away, one terror after another. Somewhere in the fire the embers of faith will burn through tomorrow." There is a point in each of our lives when we are going through a rough spot and there seems to be no end to what we are going through; one bad thing after another causes stress and anxiety in our lives. Then at the breaking point when enough is enough, the faith that you have sparks and soon burns through the problems in our lives. I had one of my best friend's tell me a quote that his brother always reminds him: "We tend to make our problems greater than the size of God." We sit in our own pity and distress and think woe is us and that nothing can get us out of the hole that we are in, when the size of God blows away any problem in our life.
I find it interesting that the writer of this song uses two verses to write this song: Matthew 5:44-45 and James 1:2-4. Each of these two verses speaks a separate message, but brings the two messages into one topic: persecution. Matthew 5:44-45 begins with Jesus giving what is known as one of the greatest commands in history, "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." This is one of the greatest commands that we are ever given, yet i is one of the most forsaken. The task of loving all of your enemies and praying for those who persecute you can be very grueling, trust me. We tend to think of prayer as almost a wish list for our own lives thrown in with your friends: "Dear God, thank you for this day, please help me to be the husband that I need to be and help my wife to seek you and my dog to get better, amen." Prayer is to be in conversation with God and to lift up those in need; how selfish of each of us to pray for ourselves. That would be basically the same as being trapped in a mine and pushing everyone over so that you can get out: everybody is in need of God and we all want to be prayed for, but praying for ourselves if selfish. James 1:2-4 is very practical about persecution and puts what persecution does into one key phrase: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James describes what persecution teaches us perfectly here in these few verses: a testing (or in some translations: a building) of our faith and a maturing process.
When you are going through a rough time or persecution, if you forget all of what is written above, just remember one person that went through more persecution than you will ever have to face: Jesus Christ. He took on the crown of thorns, the lashes of a lead tipped whip, the nails of the cross, and HE CONQUERED DEATH. Praise Him for stepping into a world filled with sin and saving someone so undeserving of His love as us.
In Christ,
Spencer
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