2 Timothy 3:12 Yes, and everyone who wants to
live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
Christian discipleship is to learn and know reality and truth,
then apply that truth into our daily walk with the Lord. Part of that reality
and truth is that in this “fallen in sin” world, life in the jungle is no bowl
full of cherries. There is darkness and wickedness, who call evil good and good
evil, which hates the light and goodness of God and His children. Granted that
it is far from the most pleasant biblical issue, yet we must not be ignorant
of affliction of any issue, so that we can live victorious in Christ, even in difficult
times. As our Friday evening small group Bible study group learns, God Almighty is in control always. We discussed how we really did not feel that we
understood true affliction and persecution for our faith today in America , like
we see in other countries that are hostile to Christianity, because of our
freedoms and liberty under the Constitutional Rights. The occasional insults of
being called: “holier than thou”, “Bible thumper” or “Jesus freak” or the mockery
of God himself and His holy Bible by unbelieving secular humanist is next to
nothing compared to the persecution we see today in other nations, but increasing here now. But so are conversions
to Christ – praise God. We shouldn't be surprised. Look how much Jesus suffered
for us.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about
the trouble we went through in the province of Asia .
We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we
would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped
relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.
The word “affliction” is the Greek word “θλῖψις thlipsis,
which not just trouble, but “to crush or to squeeze”, usually suffering
from outward circumstances, but afflictions can be anything that burdens the
spirit.
Wikipedia states that “Prosperity theology” (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel or
the health and wealth gospel) is a belief that views the Bible as a contract
between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, he will deliver his
promises of security and prosperity. But
Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in
me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But
take heart! I have overcome the
world.” We’re not in heaven yet, far from it, and need to learn and
understand that we cannot and must not trust in and depend upon ourselves, but
in God.
2 Corinthians 4:7-10 We
now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile
clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great
power is from God, not from ourselves. We are
pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed,
but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get
knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through
suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life
of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
In this physical world around us, we tend to think more highly of
ourselves than we should. How many times do we think that we need to do things
on our own and believe that we can do them by our own power? In Romans 12:3, the Apostle Paul tells us
this: Because of the privilege
and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are
better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves,
measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. We are like fragile clay
jars containing this great treasure (the power of God). Whatever affliction God brings us to; God brings us though it, by our faith and
by His grace, and in His strength.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 And He has said to me, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly,
therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell
in me. Therefore I am well
content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for
Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
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