No Fear
I love spy novels. I enjoy the intrigue and the convoluted story lines. I read the Bourne Identity long before it was a movie. But to be honest, those stories bear absolutely no resemblance to anything in my life. I seriously doubt that anyone is tracking me, listening in on my conversations, or discussing me in some secret office complex.
As a matter of fact, we Americans are pretty much allowed to speak our minds about anything without fear. Want to criticize the President? Go ahead. Want to criticize Congress? You can do that, too. Want to talk about your faith? Amazingly, you can also do that. (Unfortunately, we are probably more apt to do the first two than the last.)
In this great country, I am free to live out my faith the way I want without fear. No one is going to knock on my door and arrest me for having a shelf full of Bibles. I do not live in fear that I will be arrested for worshipping God or even for speaking the name of Jesus.
Are there some restrictions on what I can say and do? Sure. But I cannot even pretend to think that I have ever been persecuted for my faith.
It is hard to fathom what life is like in countries where people live in fear at all times. Where there is no peace. Where to speak the name of Jesus is to invite trouble of every kind. Where persecution is a reality.
And yet, many of God's people do live that way.
And they continue to believe and to obey and to trust God.
Thank God for them.
"We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring." 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4
As a matter of fact, we Americans are pretty much allowed to speak our minds about anything without fear. Want to criticize the President? Go ahead. Want to criticize Congress? You can do that, too. Want to talk about your faith? Amazingly, you can also do that. (Unfortunately, we are probably more apt to do the first two than the last.)
In this great country, I am free to live out my faith the way I want without fear. No one is going to knock on my door and arrest me for having a shelf full of Bibles. I do not live in fear that I will be arrested for worshipping God or even for speaking the name of Jesus.
Are there some restrictions on what I can say and do? Sure. But I cannot even pretend to think that I have ever been persecuted for my faith.
It is hard to fathom what life is like in countries where people live in fear at all times. Where there is no peace. Where to speak the name of Jesus is to invite trouble of every kind. Where persecution is a reality.
And yet, many of God's people do live that way.
And they continue to believe and to obey and to trust God.
Thank God for them.
"We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring." 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4
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