Daily Devotional for Sunday, April 16

Results of a Godly Life

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,” 2 Timothy 3:12.

Persecution, until recently, has been a distant concept in western churches. As western believers, we hear of persecution and tend to think it happens over there, somewhere overseas. In the Lord’s graciousness, we have not yet experienced open persecution much in the west. It is present, however, and growing more and more as our world grows more and more wicked and self-centered. Christian corporations and business owners are finding themselves facing lawsuits saying their biblical way of doing things is unlawful.
As disappointing as that is, it is only the beginning. Jesus himself said, “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake,” (Luke 21:17). We are sojourners and foreigners in this land we call earth. Believers down through the ages, all over the world have faced serious persecution, even death, for the name and cause of Christ. How do we prepare?
We find an answer in Paul’s second letter to Timothy. As Timothy was pastoring, Paul sent him one final letter. Timothy had traveled and lived with Paul, and they ministered together among the churches. He had a front row seat to Paul’s life, and Paul reminded Timothy of that which he already knew of Paul. He knew Paul’s doctrine, lifestyle, purpose, faith, patient endurance and love (2 Timothy 3:10). He also knew Paul’s persecutions and afflictions (verse 11). Timothy knew the five whippings, the three beatings, the stoning that only stopped because the Jews thought he was dead, the jail time, the hunger and thirst and the constant danger for speaking the name of Jesus. “But out of them all the Lord delivered me,” Paul said in verse 11. Paul’s faith in the Lord, his trust in His Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit held him up. The Lord grows our faith to endure persecution.

THOUGHT: In the face of their persecutors, “Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary” (Acts 13:46). Wax bold, Christian. Your stand is necessary.

Kelli Reynolds