today i learned that someone i consider a very good friend has recently made some ‘outrageous comments’ about my ‘faith’ to another friend. this cuts me deeply, and i am not certain why. it is not as if my faith is something i keep hidden away. anyone who knows me even marginally is aware that my faith guides the entirety of my life. when i step back and think about it though, i wonder how i could possibly have thought that i would be immune to the verbal lacerations that would so frequently be emitted from this individual concerning most everyone. yet i think on some level, i felt i might be a little different than the rest. arrogant? hopeful? naïve?- probably a little of each. i am far, very far from perfect. the truth is i struggle with sin often, and sometimes it even feels such a constant in my life i fear i will be completely consumed at times. yet my heart yearns most for Jesus, and at the end of the day, i believe that the living of my life reflects Christ. perhaps it is this living out of my faith that so offends my friend. ok, so i am a Jesus freak. even so, it simply puzzles me why one would lash out in such a way; it just feels mean. as i have mentioned before in my writings, i left everything, and everyone i love, including this friend who means so much to me, to simply follow the Lord and serve His people in the world. i said ‘yes’, send me. has it been worth it? yes, a thousand times yes. so i will lay my wounded heart at the feet of the cross, and i will cling to the most amazing friend i will ever have, Jesus Christ – to His promises, to His unfailing love, to His mercy. He, after all, knows quite well the sting of persecution. He even warns me that i will face this as His child since i live in a world that simply chooses not to believe as i do. in this, i choose grace.
‘remember the words i have spoken to you: ‘no servant is greater than his master.’ if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. they will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.’ john 15:20-21
‘consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.’ james 1:2-3
‘in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted’ 2 timothy 3:12
