Thoughts for another day

June 14, 2013.

Today's verse: Ro. 8:18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  (KJV)

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

I look at the persecution of Christians around the world: A family wiped out in a remote village in Sudan; then a church bombed in Nigeria, twelve worshippers killed, twenty-three wounded.  Then in Iran, a Pastor jailed and labeled a traitor, not because he did anything wrong, but because he’s a Christian, spreading Christ’s love to his neighbors and they in jealousy do whatever they wish to him for their religion allows them to – no questions asked.  In another instance, in a muslim country, a Pastor returns from a preaching mission, only to discover his two young sons grotesquely and brutally murdered – their fault, they are sons of a ‘Christian’ preacher. 

Christian homes are plundered in broad daylight; they’re set on fire with their young children in vehicles, they’re hung from the roofs or from tree trunks or even buried alive after inhuman torture even to uprooting their nails and pouring acid down their throats.  They’re indiscriminated against, beaten and robbed and disgraced; all because they’re Christian.  Recently, a Christian man in India married a girl he loved and who loved him too.  The girl’s father warned him to change his religion and when he didn’t, they murdered him.  O, the travails of the children of God who choose to follow His Son Jesus Christ.  And remember, everyone who lives in a non-Christian country is always at risk.  There could be a flare up anytime and they could be killed.  Recently, a friend and his companions, were attacked in Orissa, infamous for its fundamentalists, but miraculously escaped their attackers.  It’s when I learnt of this that it occurred to me how close we are to persecution.

Then again, when I think of Christ, I’m proud that our Savior too was persecuted and killed, not by ‘others’ as one would say, but by His own to whom He was sent!  Then on, countless numbers of our brothers and sisters who chose Christ were killed and they went willingly to their deaths, a smile on their faces and the indelible stamp of the hope of resurrection.  Takes me to our Word today: I know the sufferings of our present time, are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed in us at the time our Savior comes; and we’ll be raised, just as He said, ‘I will raise him up, on the last day.’  And then we’ll see the brilliance of the mansion in the sky wherein our Bridegroom has already prepared a room for us to be with Him eternally.  So now who cares what happens to us over here when the reward for our steadfastness in Christ is so awesomely glorious and beautiful.