How will we do? by Ps Michael Podhaczky

I read an interesting article headed “United States ‘not prepared’ for Persecution, Andrew Brunson Warns,” and began to wonder how we would cope as Aussie Christ-followers if persecution came. It was worthwhile to hear his thoughts on the matter of possible persecution. Brunson highlighted the idea that,

“After coming out of his isolation, Brunson said he was struck by how ‘overtly hostile’ American society has grown toward Christians: ‘There is a turning in our culture that used to have more respect for Christianity, and that is now becoming unpopular. And Christians are portrayed as being bigots, racist, and basically evil. And so, for someone to stand publicly as a Christian — especially a young person — they’re going to get a lot of pushback from their peers.’ Social media increases this pressure, facilitating the speed and potency of criticism.”

This sounds somewhat like what we are beginning to see in our Aussie culture.

However, even if we may be heading down this road, we need to keep things in perspective. Jesus pointed out in that Christ-followers would be persecuted as He was,

“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours” (Jn 15:20 ESV).

In what has been called The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that there is a right way to deal with persecution. This is not merely something that Jesus said, but it is a premise of the Kingdom of God and Jesus lived by it. That is,

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ “Blessed, are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:10-12 ESV).

He said that we are blessed when persecuted and so to rejoice and be glad in the midst of it. Wow, that is a counter-cultural way of seeing things. How will we as the Christ-followers of Australia do, if and when this happens? Will we complain and winge, will we count ourselves as blessed? Hmm, there is much to think about here.

Pause in His presence for a moment and think this over…