Wake Up!

“Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” Acts 5:41

Wow… I don’t have any words to describe the wonder I have at the believers at this time. They had just been beaten and ordered not to teach the name of Jesus. And they were rejoicing.

And it didn’t stop there-

“And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” Acts 5:42

So… they were beaten and ordered not to reach Jesus... and what did they do? They kept at it every day. And not just kept at it, but did it right in front of the people who had had them beaten. They were in the temple, exactly where their opposition would be.

They didn’t shy away from conflict. They held their ground, no matter what. They were not treated fairly by those around them. They were beaten and imprisoned, some even killed, on false accusations, and they were only accused because they believed in Christ. They just wanted others to know Him.

Their only crime was being Christians.

And they were beaten and imprisoned for it, or like Stephen, they were killed.

In America, this is unheard of. We expect fair treatment and equality. We are so used to being able to worship without any problem that we have become complacent. We never even entertain the thought that persecution could come our way. It could, and it will. We don’t know when or in what form, but it will come to us.

The other thing our complacency has made us do is forget. We forget about our brothers and sisters in other nations that are being persecuted for their faith. Those people that are being imprisoned or killed or beaten and kidnapped simply because they believe in the name of Christ.

Yet many of these people, like those found in Acts, are rejoicing. They are thanking God for bringing the Word to them and for giving them the opportunity to share Christ, even at the risk of their lives. They know they are not safe, nor are their families. They risk literally everything to know Christ.

And we’ve forgotten about them. We don’t even take the time to pray for our persecuted family across the world. And there are a lot of them.

Many places are not like America, where we have nothing to fear from our faith. Many people can’t gather openly in churches to worship.

And yet they still follow Christ and try to share Him, despite their peril.

I think the faith of these people is incredible, and I think that if they saw the American church… honestly I believe that they’d be disgusted. We have the gospel and are open to believe what we want, yet we won’t share it with those around us… And why won’t we?

From what I’ve seen, there are two main reasons. Number one is that we’re scared of what people might think about us. Seriously? We have brothers and sisters dying around the world to share Christ and we’re afraid of people making fun of us? In America, we have no danger to our lives and we won’t share anyways.

The other reason I’ve heard is; “I’m just too busy.” Again- really? We spend so much time on things that have no eternal value. And we can’t take some time out of our “busy” schedule to make an eternal impact?

There are two things I find in common within these two reasons. One is that they’re both about us. I’m afraid of what they’ll say about me. I’m too busy and it’ll mess with my schedule. This life isn’t supposed to be about us. It’s about Christ. The other thing they have in common is that they are not really reasons. They’re just excuses.

I know that when I die, I don’t want to stand in front of God and try to explain why I didn’t share His Son with the world with these excuses. Imagine that for a second, (really, try that in your head) and you’ll realize how weak those excuses are in the scheme of things.

So maybe it’s time to wake up a little. Realize that we aren’t the most important one in the world. See that He is.

I pray that He will give us the strength to turn this world upside down in His name. I pray that He’ll start a revival in the American church and give us a feverish love for Him. I pray that he would protect His children all over the world, no matter where they are.

And more than anything, I thank Him for the gift of His Son.