March 8, 2017
Lenten Devotions – Hated Christians?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:43-45

According to Relevant Magazine (Issue 86, March – April 2017, p. 018) A Christian is martyred every 6 minutes around the world. That means that last year alone almost 90,000 Christians died for their faith. This makes Christians the most persecuted religious group in the world.

“…but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”
2 Corinthians 6:4-10

Does what you do matter? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Christians around the world should ask themselves that question, because just naming yourself as a “Christian” in some parts of the world can get you killed. So what do we do about that? As I see it, we should gird our loins and be ready to fight the good fight – killing others with love (not hate or violence) that Christians are known by. So our acts of love should speak loudly announcing to the world that Christians are people of love, not hate. Last August, Chance the Rapper said on the television show Good Morning America: “…people are afraid to speak about God to a certain extent and I think if you’re not free to speak about God then you’re not free.”

My friends, Lent is about discernment – especially discerning the cross of Jesus and what that means to us. We will have set backs, troubles, bad days, months, and years, as well as joys and accomplishments – and the cross of Jesus will be our shield and protector – not to ward off the bad – but to remind us that even if we lose our lives for our faith, Jesus has won the victory over death – and claimed an eternal victory for us, whether or not we are hated for our faith.

This week, as part of your Lenten devotions, I want you to collect one bar of soap each day, and on Sunday March 12 bring in your six bars of soap to donate to Trinity’s Table.

Pastor Dave