What Would You Do?

Can you imagine going to jail because your neighbors found out you were a Christian? Some wonder if this really happens today…well, it does. In fact, there are many Christians behind bars this very moment for no other reason than their faith.

What would you do in such a climate? If secret police ransacked your home and dragged you to your basement as they beat your wife and children, would you reveal the names of the other Christians in your church? It’s a question we need to ask because we need to know the answer. If we wait till we are faced with decisions of this sort, even much less dramatic ones, our devotion will surely come up lacking.

Paul told the Philippians (ch.1) that word of his imprisonment had scattered far and wide. Indeed, we already know that Paul went to prison. The man who had dragged men and woman to prison for their faith in Christ now sat imprisoned for serving the same Master. Paul must have thought of those people as he lived his life in chains, especially the faithful ones – the ones who would not break. Christians who would rather live or even die in prison than to betray their King and His disciples would have given Paul great comfort. Paul’s willingness to do the same gave the church the motivation it needed. In Philippians 1:12-14 he says; “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Had we lived at the time we would be faced with two options when hearing of Paul’s suffering. We could have learned to be quieter. After all, some would say that Paul brought this on his self by going to the synagogue every weekend and antagonizing the Jews. Or we could take courage from men like Paul and determine to be more faithful ourselves. We could finally get up one morning and go tell our neighbors that Jesus died for their sins and that there is hope in His righteousness. It might have cost us our lives, but Jesus said whoever lost their life for His sake would find it.

So what would you do? You may think it’s difficult to answer when you’re not faced with the same situations, but that’s not true.

Examine your level of devotion right now. If it were suddenly illegal to teach the gospel in public would you be in danger of the law? If you were banned from talking about Jesus at work would your job be in danger? If the government banned all Christianity except Sunday and Wednesday assemblies would you have to change anything about your life? If you answer no to any of those questions then you would not be faithful under persecution. Persecution doesn’t make weak people stronger. It makes strong people stronger. If you don’t have enough faith to talk to a friend about Jesus when the worst thing that could happen is them telling you they’re not interested, do you honestly think you’d be faithful when your life is on the line?

If persecution ever comes to this nation there will be much fewer churches. Not just because the buildings will be burned, but because many people will surrender their faith. I would dare say that most congregations (if not all) have some people who will easily quit Jesus if He becomes illegal. This has been the case in every single country where persecution has taken place. The churches get smaller, but they get stronger (obviously, since all the weak people have left).

What about you? If the persecution comes, will you abandon the Lord who redeemed you? You need to know the honest answer to that question, because God already does. And if you don’t figure it out and fix where you’re lacking, you may be in for a surprise on judgment day.

A man once asked Jesus what the most important commandment in the law was, and Jesus said; well, what do you think? The man replied that we need to love God with all of our heart and strength and to love all the people we come in contact with as if they were our very own flesh. Jesus told Him; do this and you will live…..

- JC3