Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12).
During the Diocletian persecution, when the meeting places, sacred books, and homes of Christians were burned, and they themselves were deprived of all civil rights and honors, the emperor struck a coin with this inscription: "The Christian name extinguished." The Christian church was born in persecution, and it will never be entirely free of persecution until the end of time.
A godly life here on earth is a constant challenge to the ungodly. Righteousness holds the mirror up to unrighteousness. Those who do right are a constant irritation to those who do wrong. Jesus said to His disciples, "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you" (John 15:20).
In our Savior's prophecy of Matthew 24 He speaks of certain times of persecution as signs--first, of the fall of Jerusalem; second, of the end of the world. "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22).
Suffering for evildoing is not persecution "for righteousness' sake," but if we are persecuted for doing good, there is blessing in it. Among six men turned out of Oxford University for praying were John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. Evil persecutes good, but good never persecutes evil. Cain persecuted Abel, the Scriptures says, "because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:12). In Old Testament days the prophets were persecuted and put to death by the very people they tried to help. Most of the apostles also suffered martyrdom for their faith. Jesus, the greatest apostle, prophet, and priest, was persecuted from city to city, spit upon, denied, derided, and finally crucified as a common criminal; yet He was the King of love.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Arise, O Lord,...deliver my soul from the wicked" (Ps. 17:13).
During the Diocletian persecution, when the meeting places, sacred books, and homes of Christians were burned, and they themselves were deprived of all civil rights and honors, the emperor struck a coin with this inscription: "The Christian name extinguished." The Christian church was born in persecution, and it will never be entirely free of persecution until the end of time.
A godly life here on earth is a constant challenge to the ungodly. Righteousness holds the mirror up to unrighteousness. Those who do right are a constant irritation to those who do wrong. Jesus said to His disciples, "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you" (John 15:20).
In our Savior's prophecy of Matthew 24 He speaks of certain times of persecution as signs--first, of the fall of Jerusalem; second, of the end of the world. "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22).
Suffering for evildoing is not persecution "for righteousness' sake," but if we are persecuted for doing good, there is blessing in it. Among six men turned out of Oxford University for praying were John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. Evil persecutes good, but good never persecutes evil. Cain persecuted Abel, the Scriptures says, "because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:12). In Old Testament days the prophets were persecuted and put to death by the very people they tried to help. Most of the apostles also suffered martyrdom for their faith. Jesus, the greatest apostle, prophet, and priest, was persecuted from city to city, spit upon, denied, derided, and finally crucified as a common criminal; yet He was the King of love.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Arise, O Lord,...deliver my soul from the wicked" (Ps. 17:13).
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