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No CompromisePersecution—and the context for seeing great works of God—are the result of no compromise. One of my favorite examples is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the book of Daniel. Quick recap: These were Hebrew captives in Babylon when the Babylonian king decreed that everyone in the kingdom must bow to a giant idol when the music played. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego stood when others bowed, and were thrown alive into a furnace. The astonished king beheld not three men, but four, walking in the midst of the fire, and when he called the men to come out of the furnace, the three Hebrews came, without so much as the smell of smoke upon their garments. (The fourth man--an angel? the Lord Himself?--disappeared.) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego could have rationalized that they weren't really bowing to the idol in their hearts, just with their bodies, and that the Lord really knew that they loved Him more than anything else. They could have decided that it was important to live because they might be able to influence their Persian captors for the Lord; who would do it if they didn't? But they didn't rationalize. They just said: "NO! We won't do anything that even looks like we're not giving God full glory!" And they made their witness.
This series is dedicated to the Christians suffering at the hands of ISIS. We remember you, we're praying for you, and we know that God is with you. Keep the faith! I think it started when a friend asked me, "What is persecution? And if we're not facing it in our walk with Christ, does that mean we're compromising?" I explored that topic more deeply with my best friend afterward. I'm still learning, but here are my thoughts. Psalm 103:12 Some time ago, my pastor asked this question in one of his sermons: “How would you live if you knew—without a shadow of a doubt—that you are forgiven?” That question struck me as a challenge. What would the life lived in the full knowledge of forgiveness look like? Riddle: How is a frog’s instinct to hide in the tall grass similar to the natural instincts of humans? When I mow the grass in my yard, it is not uncommon for a frog to suddenly startle from the grass right in front of my lawnmower, and to leap frantically away. The instinct to run from the deadly machine is a good one. But the direction of that flight is often wrong. The frog’s natural instinct is to hide from its predators in the long grass, where its shiny green sides make it nearly invisible. The problem? The purpose of the lawnmower is to cut the long grass. Have you ever asked yourself: “Am I really a Christian?” Over and over, I have witnessed powerful fears in women, myself included. One exhausted woman told me: “I am tired of this. I hate my sin. I hate my hypocrisy. I’m just done with it all.” Another shared: “When I constantly struggling with the same thing, I can see how people can begin to doubt their salvation.” There are certainly cases in which true conversion has not occurred. But there are also many cases in which one’s Christianity is doubted needlessly.
After an afternoon of ultimate Frisbee and football, we were on our way to our friends’ house a short drive away. With a van full of friends, we maneuvered around frost-heaves and potholes, trading stories and laughter.
Suddenly, we became aware of a strange sound—a dull fwap, fwap, fwap followed by an ominous grinding. The friend in the front passenger seat leaned out the open window. “Your wheel is flat,” she announced. |
Meet YaashaNone of my life has gone the way it was "supposed to go," but I don't love my life any less because of the hardships and new directions. I see so much unexpected good in it, and I want others to see the good in theirs. Archives
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