Thoughts for another day

March 11, 2013.

Today's verse: John 15:20a. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further.  Thanks)

Hanif looked up at the sky; it never occurred to him that he would have to undergo such difficulties after he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Living in the coastal city of Alexandria, peppered with educated and progressive individuals, his childhood was spent hanging out with friends, sons of rich industrialists all living in plush houses near the coast.  Son of a rich trader and well entrenched in the Islamic faith, Hanif somehow intrinsically refused to believe the teachings of Islam. Meeting Yusuf, the Christian son of an affluent merchant, changed his life completely for in Yusuf, he saw a peace and a calm he didn’t see anywhere else.  Unlike the other boys, Yusuf was composed and dignified, yet humble and friendly.  He always wore the cross around his neck, not the safest of things to do in the neighborhood, yet he didn’t bother for he wasn’t ashamed of his Savior Jesus Christ and spoke about him to everyone he possibly could and nothing could scare him.  Hanif couldn’t help but admire his zeal for the Lord. 

Hanif had a good upbringing because of his genteel mother who taught him and his three brothers, the values of life. This upbringing kept him away from trouble and in a strange way, made him yearn for Yusuf’s company as he was the only one who could understand him.  Gradually, Hanif learnt about Jesus Christ and His love.  It intrigued Hanif to know that God loved men so much, and that He could come down in the form of man and die for him was something he couldn’t quite understand.  But when Yusuf spoke with such zeal, he couldn’t refute it and it even surprised him that God wasn’t remote but involved in the lives of men which eventually made him accept Christ as his Lord and Savior.  Yusuf warned him that about the repercussions but he never knew they could be so dreadful.  In a matter of days, everyone was against him.  His father, mother, siblings, relatives, neighbors, friends and everyone seemed to think of him as the traitor.  He was shunted out of his home and had to take up a menial job while staying at Yusuf’s place.

Then one day, a group of men with masks attacked them as they were walking home, stabbed Yusuf to death and put the weapon in his hands to frame him.  The judge convicted him, despite all his defenses as false witnesses, even his friends, said they saw him standing near Yusuf’s body with the knife.  The motive they allotted to the murder was that Hanif harbored a grudge over Yusuf as because of him, he had to face great trouble; which was just utter nonsense for if he had any real friend whom he loved a lot, it was Yusuf.  Yet, who would listen?  In jail too, he wasn’t left in peace as the Islamic inmates beat and tortured him.  Today after being beaten for nothing, he sat outside in the open near his cell, blood oozing from the wound in his face.  He removed the copy of John’s Gospel he had smuggled inside the jail, one of the precious gifts Yusuf had given him and read it.  His eyes turned to our Scripture today.  Tears fell from his eyes as he thought of Christ, sneered and ridiculed, beaten and tortured by the Romans.  He thought, ‘what is a life-time jail sentence compared to that.’  And he thanked God for choosing him to suffer for the Name of His Son – what a wonderful privilege to serve the Living God he thought; peace flooded his soul even as he forgave all those who hurt him and ill-treated him.