Courage and Persecution

We often think of, at least I do, of Christians who stand up to persecution as being something special, heroes of the faith even. And its true we most often hear about the ones that did not wilt under pressure but stood firm despite the odds and not about those who could not.

Assessing why I put persecuted Christians on a pedestal, I have come to the conclusion that it helps me to deal with their terrible plight. That is since these Christians are of a super faith then it some how helps to soften and rationalise persecution. A sort of ‘well their made for it’ type approach.

However as I work with persecuted Christians and hear their stories the cliché ‘frightening reality’ really hits home. They are no different to me, that is when they experience life changing/threatening intimidation they are not wrapped in a soft protective cocoon of faith. Their lives are exactly like mine except tomorrow their sister might be beheaded or raped, or their church blown up.

When I was a soldier and I was really wet, cold and extremely tired on an Exercise. I would sometimes think how many more times hard it would be if I were in that same environment except that now others were relentlessly trying to kill me.

You see being a Christian in New Zealand is a lot like being on an Exercise, it can be difficult, tiring, and hard, but people aren’t trying to kill you, literally. I realise now if they did (try to kill) I would be no different a Christian as I am today. That is I would not suddenly be a super Christian with great powers to over come hardship. Instead I would be very frightened!

And that makes the whole idea of persecution really scary and so much more real and insane. It really is brutaly crazy, cruel and doesn’t make much sense. It is the World at its cold hard worst. For the Christians in it, its hell on Earth.

So why is knowing this important?

First, by understanding that persecuted Christians are real frightened people we realise their very real need for comfort, prayer and advocacy etc.

Second and most important, we are lead to God who alone is powerful enough to make a difference. As David shouted to Goliath "All those here will know it is not by the sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s!"

By understanding the very real humanity of our brothers and sisters we realise how powerful God’s grace is!

Blesings