“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12 Are you being persecuted? What do you think it means if you aren’t? To me, it says I am not hating wickedness as I should be, I am not opposing the wicked and defending orphans and widows as I should, I am not boldly proclaiming Jesus as I am commanded.
The gospel is offensive, especially today when anyone that says they themselves are right and everyone else is wrong. Watering down the truth of the gospel is not loving (like we deceive ourselves into believing). Instead, it is selfish, destructive and deadly. The only truly loving thing to do is to speak the truth of God’s love, justice, power and mercy, and to proclaim Jesus as the only way, the absolute truth and the life. We must boldly speak the truth of who Jesus is.
As you read on in 2 Timothy, Paul charges us to read/study/know the Bible so that we will preach it and keep from being deceived. We must submerse ourselves in the Word of God. And as you read, talk to the Holy Spirit about what He wrote. Ask for insight, for revelation. The Bible is living; it is eternal. With the help of the Holy Spirit, it will never get old. Come to the word in humility. It is powerful.
On Sunday, I found myself in a downtown area in Kansas City. Two of my friends and I had tried to go to a church service, but couldn’t find it, so we just walked around exploring. On our walk, we saw a lot of people sitting outside (in 80 degree weather! Praise the Lord!). We decided to hand out some flyers for an outreach event that we are a part of this month. As we were handing them out, we got to talk to some of the people there. My friend, Maran, got to talking with this 40-year-old guy and “blew our cover” mentioning her hope Jesus. Boy, oh boy, the name of Jesus is explosive! “Oh so what church are you girls from? ...You’re one of those Jehovah witnesses, aren’t you? ...So do they pass around the buckets to collect money all the time at your church with those envelopes with your address and how much money you make?”
Let me tell you, persecution is not that far off, even here in America. We are called to boldly speak the truth in love. Are you?
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