“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be
an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”
Romans 1:1

A friend of mine posted something on Facebook yesterday that stuck with me. I don’t remember the specifics, but it had to do with being different than the rest of the world. I also just got done reading “The Heavenly Man – the remarkable true story of Chinese Brother Yun” that left me seriously wondering about the church in America.

Folks, we know nothing about persecution.

I’m not even sure where to go with this. All of the apostles were martyred, except John. Somehow, we think that he was different; but if you examine the record carefully, he was hardly the meek and mild one. After all, Jesus called John and his brother, “Sons of Thunder”! He earned that. Furthermore, he was banished to a remote island and left to die.

Paul wasn’t exactly welcomed everywhere he went. They beat him mercilessly. He was left for dead. He was finally killed.

You should read what the Chinese government did to Brother Yun.

But Jesus was different. He was kind and mild-mannered and desired to spread peace wherever he went. Hah!

Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

So….

What have you done lately for the sake of the gospel that has been uncomfortable?

Father, turn up the heat! Amen.

Copyright © 2019 Scott Powers

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash