Are you willing to suffer?

Arrested. Tortured. Beheaded. Murdered.  Hung upside down to die.  What do all these punishments have in common?

They are all punishments early followers of Christ faced for following Him.  The punishments they faced were punishments reserved for the hardest criminals, but were given as a means of persecution.  The Bible warns us that we are going to face persecution.  The road to the future won’t be easy.  We have to choose whether we want to pay the price of following Him, or if we want to be like the world.

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  Matthew 10:22 (NIV)

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  John 15:18 (NIV)

The Bible says that the world first hated Jesus, and if our goal is to be Christ like, we will too feel the hatred of the world, it’s just the cost of being a Christian.

We know we aren’t going to (for the most part) die. We know we aren’t going to have our heads cut off.  There is a very big possibility we could get persecuted along our journey.  There is also a possibility of being tortured because of our beliefs.

The lifestyle of being a Christian can have its up days, as well as its down days.

Can you handle or are you willing to be persecuted?  Do you run in fear?  Are you called to serve Christ but are not willing to if persecution starts?

Anonymous

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