Sacrifice and the Christian Life
I am reading through the book of John, a couple of verses at a time, with a long term view to 1. be transformed by it and 2. write a year-long devotional book on it. That might take a while. It's number 15 in the list of books I want to write.
Today I came to John 14:23 and following. Beautiful, exclusionary, demanding words. Jesus uses no ambiguity here; to be accepted by God, you love Me and follow my doctrinal (truth) and practical (action) teaching.
I was thinking about the Persecuted Church. There is an important article on Christianity Today's website about the persecution of the Kachins, Baptist believers, in Burma/Myanmar. This is of interest to me because the first play I ever wrote and produced was about Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary and first missionary to Burma. (He's my hero and To the Golden Shore is required reading.) These folks are his legacy and they are oppressed, and I mean real oppression, not this slight marginalization we call oppression in the U.S.
I asked myself, "what have you given up for Christ? What have you not done or received or experienced because of being a Christ follower?" I won't go into my answer here, but I think it's good for reflection.
If a non-believer were to ask me what I got and gave up because of being a Christian, I would answer that we do not follow Christ to get something in this life, especially nothing superficial or material. I have received a great deal and my life is immeasurably better, but it's a big, unanswerable "what if" question. At this point, I have no idea what my life over the last 47 years would have been without having embraced the Christian faith and its people. Mainly, I have a coherent world view and all that entails, as well as the relational, affective, and health benefits that would come from a coherent world view.
However, the point of this post is to remind readers that November is Pray for the Persecuted Church Month, and everyone who names Christ should be doing that. Many nations, dominant cultures, and governments persecute Christians (and other religious minorities, such as the Rohingya Muslims in Burma and the Yazidis in the Middle East). Some groups are being oppressed because of war (Nigeria, Congo, and Yemen being the ones that come to mind).
Let's get outside of our comfortable boxes, think and pray globally and act as God leads.
Today I came to John 14:23 and following. Beautiful, exclusionary, demanding words. Jesus uses no ambiguity here; to be accepted by God, you love Me and follow my doctrinal (truth) and practical (action) teaching.
I was thinking about the Persecuted Church. There is an important article on Christianity Today's website about the persecution of the Kachins, Baptist believers, in Burma/Myanmar. This is of interest to me because the first play I ever wrote and produced was about Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary and first missionary to Burma. (He's my hero and To the Golden Shore is required reading.) These folks are his legacy and they are oppressed, and I mean real oppression, not this slight marginalization we call oppression in the U.S.
I asked myself, "what have you given up for Christ? What have you not done or received or experienced because of being a Christ follower?" I won't go into my answer here, but I think it's good for reflection.
If a non-believer were to ask me what I got and gave up because of being a Christian, I would answer that we do not follow Christ to get something in this life, especially nothing superficial or material. I have received a great deal and my life is immeasurably better, but it's a big, unanswerable "what if" question. At this point, I have no idea what my life over the last 47 years would have been without having embraced the Christian faith and its people. Mainly, I have a coherent world view and all that entails, as well as the relational, affective, and health benefits that would come from a coherent world view.
However, the point of this post is to remind readers that November is Pray for the Persecuted Church Month, and everyone who names Christ should be doing that. Many nations, dominant cultures, and governments persecute Christians (and other religious minorities, such as the Rohingya Muslims in Burma and the Yazidis in the Middle East). Some groups are being oppressed because of war (Nigeria, Congo, and Yemen being the ones that come to mind).
Let's get outside of our comfortable boxes, think and pray globally and act as God leads.
Comments