What if I told you something really bad was about to happen to you? You won't know when, where, how, who - nothing, just that something bad is going to happen to you and when it happens...well, its gonna be bad. You would probably walk around pretty jumpy. Perhaps you would find yourself being a little more timid, not taking as many risks. But as careful as you are, you can never be sure if or when "it" is coming.Now what if I told you why something was bad was going to happen to you? What if I told you the reason was because you were a follower of God? That one day there would be consequences for being so devoted to God, persecution, death, or even worse - ridicule!
How fortunate are we that our hardships as Christians in America don't even come remotely close to violence or death? This is, unfortunately, not always in the case in other areas of the world where following Christ can mean jail or death. Their plight is much the same of the Jewish nation throughout the ages. I was reminded of the story of Shadrach Meshack and Abendigo in the book of Daniel. Faced with the consequence of a fiery death in a furnace, they chose God over the king, boldly stating that they would rather die than disavow their God. They said that God had the power to save them from this fate. But even if he chose not to, they would still not bow down to the king. This was quite a dangerous wager they had going with the king and with God. They could face the fire and God would either save them or not save them, but what was more unbearable to them than anything was walking away from their God. Their boldness for God was rewarded as God stood with them in the fire; their devotion, shining in sharp contrast to the thousands of Israelites that had chosen to capitulate in the same situation rather than face the same trial.
Lest we think that God is somehow obligated by our actions to work this way or that, think of John the Baptist. He is our counter-example in one way. Like many prophets, he was bold for God but was eventually killed by the same people that he was sent to. We should hear echoes of Jesus' life in this example as well. Here were more followers of God that decided that nothing would stop them from proclaiming their devotion to God boldly and suffered as a result. What was more unacceptable to them than even death was to say that they almost fought the good fight, almost finished the race, almost keep the faith.
This brings us back to our current dilemma, if fiery furnaces and death aren't our consequence for following God then why do we walk around as if it were? At the risk of scorn or a snide comment from a coworker or classmate, many Christ followers sheepishly go about their devotional lives hoping to not draw much attention to themselves. Their compromise is a devotion not so bold as to draw attention but not so cold as to equate to, at least in their own minds, rejection of God. I doubt that God is fooled or that he's very pleased. Should he savor a glass of lukewarm water anymore than you or I would?
By their scorn, our culture in many ways has the church up against the proverbial ropes. Where Christians have found the courage to boldly display their devotion for God, they often lack the love and respect necessary for the message to be pure and the hearers to be affected.
We've feared the fire for too long and our world is ill served by the timid faith produced as a result. What this world needs more than anything is a Church that is proud of her Savior. Nothing will build peoples' faith in God more than people with faith in God. Nothing will give people confidence in God more than people who are confident in God. Nothing will help this world know what God is like more than people that model, by their lives, what God is like. Nothing will make people desire God more than people that desire God.
So if my life is a wager between the possibility of persecution or the assurance of God's pleasure then gimme the dice - I'm betting it all on the latter.
