I’m not one to often write such stern words. However this morning this has been pressing on my heart with great urgency. The urgency that it is time for all believers to be prepared not just for the good times but also the character building times.
Walking out the calling of God for your life will be the most
Inconvenient thing you will ever do.
It will require you to stand when others fold. It will require you to at time sacrifice or do without to an extent that it’s painful and even humiliating in front of others.
It will cause you to walk away from tables that are feeding you and making your dreams a reality because your dream does not fit God’s dream for your life.
This is why Jesus said count the cost and take up your cross.
He will call you to go where you don’t want to go. Some roads will be extremely difficult. It may cost you your freedom and even your life.
Do not spit in the face of Jesus and the apostles preaching a gospel that offers only convenience, everything being easy and custom fit to our wants.
This was the fate of the disciples:
- Peter: Crucified upside down in Rome under Emperor Nero’s reign.
- James the Greater: Beheaded in Jerusalem by King Herod Agrippa I around 44 AD.
- John: John died a natural death in Ephesus, although he survived a martyrdom attempt in which he was thrown into boiling oil but emerged unharmed.
- Andrew: Crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece.
- Philip: Crucified in Hierapolis, Phrygia.
- Bartholomew (also known as Nathanael) flayed to death and then crucified in Armenia.
- Matthew: Killed by the sword in Ethiopia.
- Thomas: Speared to death in India.
- James the Less: Martyred by being thrown down from the temple, stoned, and then beaten with a club.
- Jude (Thaddaeus): Martyred either by being clubbed.
- Simon the Zealot: Sawn in half in Persia.
- Judas Iscariot: Not a martyr; he took his own life after betraying Jesus.
If we say we are Christian’s it’s time to face the truth of the journey we have said test to. It will have a cost.
Don’t take my word for it. Jesus himself spoke about this in Luke 21.
Yes, God is love, he is beautiful, he is a provider, he takes delight in us having joy and peace. However let’s no erase the fact that Jesus himself also said that we would also endure suffering and injustices for His name sake.
The best thing we can do for our spiritual walk and the building of our character is to do away with the desire to have everything be comfortable, convenient, and easy. With this I’m not saying be doom and gloom. What I am saying is expect character building days and seasons, and when they show up, rather than looking at it as if it’s the devil, look at it as an invitation from God to grow and mature.
Selah
