6TH APRIL
2 Timothy 3:10-13
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
All over the world those who belong to Christ are tormented and treated unjustly because they choose to live godly in Christ Jesus.
In some nations, believers are being brutally murdered while dreadful deeds are being committed against those who remain for refusing to renounce their faith in Jesus. Some are expelled from their homelands while others experience the heartbreak of families cutting them off from their heritage as they choose only to worship Jesus.
While this is evil, Paul says that “evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” As you pursue living godly in Christ Jesus you should expect increasing opposition and persecution in your daily life.
But you have hope. As you choose to imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, he encourages you saying, “yet from them all the Lord rescued me”. Likewise, the Lord Jesus himself promises you he is “with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Your hope and strength can be found in Jesus, “for we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).
MAKE IT PERSONAL:
Choose a nation in which you know Christians face persecution. Take some time now to pray for this nation.