What is Christian Persecution?
How should we react when that happens?
When one thinks of Christian persecution, the picture of Christians being tortured for evangelization or for not rejecting Christ comes to mind. Grim pictures of men kneeling down with their heads covered and then either shot mercilessly or beheaded by terrorists seem to come before our eyes the very moment we think of Christian persecution. Or the pictures of pastors who do not agree to bless gay marriages or bakers who do not agree to bake wedding cakes for gay wedding parties and are thrown into jail come to our mind.
We seldom give thought to our daily lives and what we go through everyday. When we as born again believers live out our Christian life as commanded by Jesus, that is, when we bear the fruit of the spirit in our lives, the first thing most of us get is a sacarstic remark or an accusing comment. These usually come from those close to us, either our own family members or our co-workers.
Here are a few examples:-
1. When one refrains from laughing at a coarse/sacarstic joke - "Oh there goes holy Joe!"
2. When one refrains from joining in coarse immoral joking sessions or gossip sessions - "Wah, she thinks she is so perfect lah!"
3. When one stands firm on the biblical principles and refuses to do business in an unethical way or refuses to be tolerant of sinful practices - "He is so useless. We cannot progress in our business dealings with him in our company. Let him go. OR He is not tolerant at all. Thinks he is always right!"
4. When one happens to be using his mobile to spread God's Word on social meadia, to send prayers to someone urgently in need of prayers and encouragement - "Look at him! I know he is wasting his time on his mobile!"
5. When one completes her office work and hands it in to her boss on time - "See she is trying to win the boss' favour."
6. When one is doing his usual one hour quiet time in the morning and his loved ones are not saved yet - "Why are you wasting so much time on your prayers? Doesn't God know what you want? Just pray for ten minutes and go and do something useful!"
7. When some misfortune/ailment befalls a person - "Oh he must have done something wrong. No wonder God is punishing him."
The list can go on and on. It is endless. It usually happens when others misunderstand our good intentions, they are jealous of us or they assume the worse about us and/or gossip about us. It can also happen, when the beliefs we stand for, as Christians and the beliefs of those around us are in conflict.
These types of cutting, accusing, judgemental, sacarstic and untrue remarks will actually put us on the defensive. We will feel miserable. We will want to retort back and defend ourselves. When this happens, we must remember the following verses from God's Word.
Isaiah 54:17 NIV
no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.
Psalm 31:16-20 NIV
Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. [17] Let me not be put to shame, Lord, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and be silent in the realm of the dead. [18] Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous. [19] How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. [20] In the shelter of your presence you hide them from all human intrigues; you keep them safe in your dwelling from accusing tongues.
( There are many other encouraging verses in the Bible which tell us that God will never let His children down but will come to their rescue. Do check them out.)
These type of remarks usually come at a time when we are doing something right. Not when we used to comply with the world and live like the people of this world. This is because Satan uses others, especially those who are close to us, to discourage us from abiding in Jesus and bearing fruit. These are the kinds of persecution every Christian who wants to be firmly rooted in Christ usually goes through in their daily lives.
When any such discouraging situation arises, let us just pray,
" Father God, You know the truth. I trust You to vindicate me. I surrender this situation into Your hands. Help me not to grow bitter towards the one persecuting me. Help me forgive her/him and love her/him with the love of Jesus. Help this person to truly know Jesus."
Fear not, for God Himself will vindicate us when we abide in Christ Jesus and obey His Word.
Jesus was persecuted and crucified. He asked His Father to forgive His persecutors, from the cross. His apostles were persecuted. Everyone who follows Christ Jesus will be persecuted. We too will be. When that happens let us learn to rejoice and be glad and pray for our persecutors. Let us remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:10-12 NIV
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [11] “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. [12] Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
How to discern between persecution and the Holy Spirit's conviction? What must we do?
Having mentioned about Christian persecution I must clarify that not every hurting, sacarstic or accusing remark is from the Satan, through our close ones.
We must remember that even when we are truly reborn Christians, we are still imperfect human beings in need of sanctification. Sanctification is ongoing till we stop breathing on earth.
Therefore when someone makes a hurting remark, we need to ask the Holy Spirit for discernment. He will help us to discern if the remark is from Satan, the accuser, to discourage and persecute us, or if it is from Him, the Holy Spirit, to convict us and to bring us to repentance.
When we are confronted or accused let us examine ourselves and check to see if we are bearing all the fruit of the Spirit in our character. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. If we are lacking in any area, then we will know that it is the Holy Spirit Who is calling us to repentance through someone.
Conviction of the Holy Spirit comes either as a nudging voice in our heart or through someone else. This someone can be a pastor whose sermon convicts us, an author whose writing convicts us or someone whose remark pricks our hearts. It is these remarks which can be wrongly perceived as persecution if we are not careful. If we are abiding in Jesus we will be able to discern between both easily.
When this happens all we need to do is ask the Holy Spirit to produce that fruit in us, which we lack. Remember, He produces them. We only bear them. If we are lacking in self-control, we need only to ask Him to produce that in our character. He will do it. All we need to do is look out for opportunities to be self-controlled and be in control.
If we fail we must repent and ask again. As we seriously and faithfully mature in Christ Jesus, bearing the fruit of the Spirit will be easier for us. If we continuously fail then we may need Father God's firm discipline to bring us to abide in Jesus again. Let's not wait for that kind of discipline. Let us allow ourselves to be moulded and shaped for His glory and sanctified in this season of grace.
Be Blessed
Mary Augustine
3rd July 2021
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