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Category: A Deeper Word

Published: Sunday, 15 May 2011 15:53

Written by Mark Neddeau

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2 Cor 11:23-27 (NIV) Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have laboured and toiled...

FRIENDS, It is amazing how difficult it becomes to serve God sometimes when the "going gets rough."  I have seen church friends and family fall away under severe circumstances (as they view them) and others fall away under less-than-severe circumstances.  Worst still, I have watched those who haven't stumbled or fallen back develop the attitude of superiority - a "looking down their noses", if you will at those who didn't hold on.  Here Paul outlines the amazing struggles he encountered during his work as a missionary.  It is worth noting that NONE of these things happened to him when he was a Jesus-hating MURDERER, working in the world system. 

Several of our more established brethern (I have been in the apostolic faith 27 years now, and have learned this) say that is just how it works when you switch teams!  The truth is, that is just how it works, period.  The rain falls on the just and the unjust - MATT 5:45, and so Paul's conversion had nothing to do with the WHAT, just the WHY he suffered these things.  Yet, I digress....Let's get back to the topic at hand.  Since his conversion, Paul begins to understand what is required from the people he persecuted in order to serve the faith in those days.  He begins to speak out from an experience of worldly/religious training combined with a supernatural transformation and he angers a LOT of people, including the devil!  He sweeps through cities, sometimes in a basket, othertimes in a jail-cell, and always in peril to proclaim the gospel and hold the torch up.  My point?  It is not as UNCOMMON as we think.  Around the world, even today - right now - people holding the Christian flame are being attacked, imprisoned and murdered.  Right now, as you read this, materials are being destroyed that proclaim the truth of Christ and the hope of Glory.  Women are being raped for their faith, men are being immasculated, children murdered.  All to hold this revelation that Jesus is the messiah before the world. 

And I?  I suffered through the damage of harsh words, even lies.  I suffered through the looks of those who "know me from back then", who speak of me at work in whispers and giggles.  I suffered through those hwo ignored my pleas, who mocked my faith, who laughed at me for having it.  But I have never in this country been beaten, physically attacked or imprisoned for my faith.  Nor has anyone I have met.  Yet we find some of the weakest, most struggling Christians right here in our border.  "Oh," I hear "It's because they are anointed to do their work over there."  Please.  You and I are anointed to do our work over here.  Do we struggle?  Yes - with bills, with car problems, with disease, of course.  But can you tell me what has happened that drives you from Christ and makes it so hard to hold onto him?  Harsh words?  Bad looks?  Bills?  Even cancer? 

Take a look around you when you feel your faith waiver.  Get online and look up Christians under attack....look into the Muslim world....look into those in third world countries, look into those in war-ravaged areas, and THINK!  Thank God you live in the United States of America - where God has worked one of his greatest MIRACLES - a CHRISTIAN NATION.  Think about that - and the peace and prosperity we have enjoyed....if not on a physical level - then surely on a spiritual one.  I am grateful for my illnesses, my broken bones, my poverty - yes poverty - I have been poor and undone - I haven't owned a car in my name for up to a decade now - I have at times struggled to eat food (yet always provided for), and I have been harshly spoken of.  But still - I serve HIM....and when the day comes (and it is coming) that Christ is anathema to this government and we peace loving Christians become the new "terrorists" on the block -  I pray I will not only have the testimony Paul has above - but I will have this one too:  "I have stayed the course and finished my race"......

How about you?

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