Suffering … Hardships And The Christian Life

Today’s "Life Journal" Daily Bible Reading can be found on Line. Click Here!
Leviticus 4,5,6; Acts 14

Suffering … Hardships And The Christian Life

Scripture

Acts 14

¹⁹ Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. ²⁰ But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch of Syria

 ²¹ After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, ²² where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.

Observation

They stoned Paul. They dragged him out of town, thinking that he was dead. What do you think it feels like to be stoned to death or in Paul’s case to be stoned half to death. I don’t know if they used large stones to hit Paul but it seemed like they would have. There must have been extreme pain with each stone that landed on his body. They beat him up so badly that they thought that they had killed him. They dragged him out of the city and dumped him. The scriptures say that as believers got around Paul’s body that he got up and then he went back into the town. He went back into the town after just getting stoned there! Wow!

Can you imagine what Paul must have looked like after he was stoned? Can you imagine the pain he must have felt from all the damage that those stones left after he was struck with them?
After this as he met with believers in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia he reminded them that they would also experience many hardships for the kingdom of God. 

For those of us that have grown up as Christians in the United States suffering for Christ is not something that we talk about or that we experience very much. This is not the case in the rest of the world that we live in. Just take a minute and go to the web site “The Voice of The Martyrs” http://www.persecution.com/ and you will get a glimpse of how the rest of the world suffers for Jesus Christ. 

Are you willing to suffer for Jesus? Are you willing to travel to places where Christians are being persecuted for their faith and help them share the Gospel. Why? Why not? 

Don’t say that you are willing if you don’t even have your passport!

Application

I will look for opportunities to go to help Christians living in hostile environments and help them share their faith. How about you? Do you have your passport?  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we think that the rest of the world lives like we do and we sometimes forget that probably no other country on our planet has the freedom to share the Gospel like we do. I don’t know why that we don’t experience the persecution that the rest of the world does for having a relationship with You. I know that this freedom won’t last forever. One day Christians will suffer here in our country just like they do almost everywhere else. Help us take advantage of this freedom while we have it. 

Today’s "Life Journal" Daily Bible Reading can be found on Line. Click Here!