Monday, August 9, 2010

persecution

Yesterday Dale preached on how the early church fled persecution in Jerusalem and as a result the gospel was carried to Samaria and even into Ethiopia. The day before, 10 members from a Christian aid organization were murdered in Afghanistan.

As I listened to the news reports today, I was outraged. I heard how members of this organization had left their own countries to serve the medical needs of a country in need. Some had raised their families there. But then I asked myself, what motivated them to serve and to give up dreams of comfort and prosperity in such a risky environment?

Even though the early Christians seemed to leave Jerusalem in the interests of self-preservation, they continued to take great risks for the sake of the good news. Samaria was a hostile place for Jews, yet the early Christians (all Jews at the time) went there, Philip preached, and as a result a whole town turned to Christ.

Where would I be willing to go to declare the good news? To my neighbor’s house? To the cubicle next to mine? To a family gathering with my anti-Christian relatives? Do I really believe that I have good news?
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1 comment:

David-FireAndGrace said...

Excellent thoughts.

For me it all comes down to calling. I have had little success in my neighborhood, yet we simply open the doors of our home, and engage with the neighbors as we can. I work on the phone, and don't really have officemates and co-workers.

Overseas, it is different. I seem to be able to bring the presence of Christ wherever I go.

August 9, 2010 at 5:54 PM

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