Here Versus There

Before I get into some kind of rambling state, I want to thank any of you saints out there who pray for me. I am not a man who spends great lengths of time in prayer or covers a wide breadth of needs. Praise the LORD there are those of you out there who do pray for me; thank you.

I have a request for you "prayer warriors" as I have heard people called. Please pray for the persecuted church if you are not. I have a map on the wall that shows countries where the local government and/or other groups are hostile to Christians in red. There are many, maybe something like 57. The saints in those countries are in need of much more prayer than I give them on average for certain. For safety. For the spreading of God's Word. For the pouring out of His spirit. For His will to be done, above all.

I had a thought about people in those countries tonight. I thought it must be difficult to be a Christian under such oppression. But then again, read the New Testament. Hard or not, Christianity spread like wildfire as the apostles and other disciples of Christ spread the gospel. When you have a firm grip on the truth of the gospel, what's going to stop you? Persecution? Death? Hardly.

Then I had a thought about people in America. I thought it must be difficult to be a Christian here as well. Instead of facing real persecution we face real temptation, everywhere we turn and on everything we turn on. Its insane. But that hardly seems comparable to what brothers and sisters across the Atlantic face. Its a different kind of struggle.

But then it struck me.

In hostile countries, the Christian may face a difficult life, but its pretty easy to know that the Christians their truly follow Christ -- being a "lip service, in name only" kind of "Christian" in that environment would be downright stupid. When you claim to follow Christ in those countries, the sanity check can't be tough.

In countries like America, its really easy to put a Jesus sticker on everything. Its really easy to subscribe to some watered down version of Christianity where you can live however you want and call yourself a Christian. Never mind what that pesky Bible says. When we claim to follow Christ here, I think we really need to test ourselves often to see if we're in the faith -- and do a good job of it.

If there was anywhere someone could think they are a Christian yet not be one, its in America.

Grace and Peace