My Dearest Lord,
Thank You, Lord, for another glorious day and for allowing me this quiet time to think of You and You alone. With the hustle and bustle of life whirling around me all the time it is nice to be able to sit and read Your Word and talk to You. It almost feels like the world stands still during our time together, Lord.
The scripture I read today comes from Acts and the section in my Bible is entitled "The Apostles Prosecuted." Just reading the title alone puts a gut-wrenching feeling in my stomach as visions start running through my head of what they probably went through. And yet, the end of the section says,
"The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name."
Acts 5:41
The first word that jumps out at me is 'rejoicing.' They were rejoicing after being persecuted. In my mind I picture someone being punched in the face, pushed down, and kicked in the gut and then jumping up with a smile on their face pumping their fist in the air shouting hooray as if they had just won the World Series.
Thinking back on my life I can think of a few times when I was persecuted because of my faith. I can remember being in a class in college where we all had to stand up and participate in an activity our professor was having us do. She would give the class a topic that was usually controversial and we had to either stand on the side of the room that said we were for it, stand on the side of the room that said we were against it, or stand somewhere in the middle. The first few topics were kind of fun and nothing that really stirred up much discussion, but then she presented us with the topic of, "Man is the head of the house." Of course, Lord, I remembered what You say in the Bible on this topic and so I stood at the far end of the room that was in agreement with the statement. I was the only one. Everyone else stood at the other end of the room or somewhere in the middle, but no one stood with me. The teacher then asked me to explain why I was standing where I was and I replied, "Because the Bible says that man is the head of his house." She then turned to all of my classmates who were standing on the opposite end of the room and told them that I am implying that none of them believe in the Bible otherwise they would be standing with me. Of course, my classmates weren't happy with me after hearing this comment because several of them did believe in the Bible including one of my classmates who as also my teammate on the basketball team. The disrespectful looks and comments that I heard from my classmates after that broke my heart. Talk about feeling set up. I didn't walk away from that class feeling excited or rejoicing. No....I walked away frustrated and hurt. In fact, I was so upset by what the teacher did that I couldn't even look at her in the eyes. I had lost all respect for her and after just a few days I decided to drop the class. That's not something I am proud of because I understand now that I let the persecution bother me instead of seeing the blessing that it was.
The next word that grabbed my attention was 'worthy.' I know from reading Your Word, Lord, that the disciples faced lots of persecution during their time on earth, and honestly, I can probably only think of a handful of times that I have had to face persecution and never was it to the extreme of what the disciples faced. I also know there are many Christians today who are being persecuted for their faith even to the point of death. It makes me rethink the idea of persecution. It's not just being in the wrong place at the wrong time and it's not just believing in You, God. If it was a result from just believing in You then I would be persecuted more. I go to church on Sunday morning and Sunday night and no one persecutes me for it. I read my Bible and pray daily in the quiet of my own home and no one persecutes me for it. I try my best to live the way You want me to live, Lord, and I'm not persecuted for it. So what's the difference in how I'm living compared to how the disciples were living?
I've always been told that you talk about the things you love. If I'm talking to somebody I'm usually quick to bring up my family because I love them like crazy and I'm very proud of them. But when do I bring up You, Lord? When do I step out of the comfort zone of fitting in during the conversation and go ahead and mention You? I'm almost certain that since I don't carry Your name on my lips very often I am not considered worthy or ready to handle the persecution that could possibly come my way.
Lord, You get persecuted all the time. People ridicule You, and Your actions. They doubt Your existence and trash Your name, I don't go through that. If I am supposed to be like You in every way wouldn't it make sense that I would be persecuted too. Unless, Lord, I'm not as much like You as I would like to think.
Open my eyes, Lord, to where I am failing at being like You. Show me where I need to change and give me wisdom to handle any upcoming persecution that may come my way because of my faith. And I pray, Lord, that if I'm ever worthy enough for persecution that I will be able to walk away rejoicing because I was doing it for You! I love you, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
*From Google pictures*
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