Lest We Forget
In America we have the best resources available for being a Christian. Between churches, libraries, seminaries, universities and the Internet, we have the very best collection of materials and resources available to us. More than any other people at any time in history. We have the freedom to worship ... to teach any doctrine ... or no doctrine if we want. We can blast our government from our pulpits and disagree with any policy or law that we don't like. We can do all that and not be threatened with arrest, or closure, or torture or deportation. We are free Americans. We can worship when, where, and how we want ... if we want .. with whomever we want. We can worship our God or no god.
Let me focus specifically on Christians. We have every freedom and every resource in history available to us for our worship. But lest we forget .. there are those in the world who do not enjoy our freedoms. I was thinking the other day about a program I heard about from Voice of the Martyrs ( www.persecution.org ). It was called the Student Underground. It was a youth thing. But the idea of it was to take a group of young people into a closed environment for a couple of days. During that time various members of the group would be "arrested" and "interrogated" by the "authorities" (played by off duty security guards or police officers). I was reminded as I thought about this about those brothers and sisters in Jesus for whom it was not a game or a youth activity.
There are Christians in the world who today will be beaten, tortured, raped, burned, displaced, made homeless, imprisoned, or even killed for the gospel witness. It is no game to them. They live or die for Jesus every single minute of every single day.
We easily get complacent in the United States with our Christianity. And it is easy to forget those who suffer horribly for Jesus. Join me in daily prayer for those who live for Jesus in places where it is hard to live for Jesus. From where we sit, it seems like the very least we can do ... lest we forget.
In America we have the best resources available for being a Christian. Between churches, libraries, seminaries, universities and the Internet, we have the very best collection of materials and resources available to us. More than any other people at any time in history. We have the freedom to worship ... to teach any doctrine ... or no doctrine if we want. We can blast our government from our pulpits and disagree with any policy or law that we don't like. We can do all that and not be threatened with arrest, or closure, or torture or deportation. We are free Americans. We can worship when, where, and how we want ... if we want .. with whomever we want. We can worship our God or no god.
Let me focus specifically on Christians. We have every freedom and every resource in history available to us for our worship. But lest we forget .. there are those in the world who do not enjoy our freedoms. I was thinking the other day about a program I heard about from Voice of the Martyrs ( www.persecution.org ). It was called the Student Underground. It was a youth thing. But the idea of it was to take a group of young people into a closed environment for a couple of days. During that time various members of the group would be "arrested" and "interrogated" by the "authorities" (played by off duty security guards or police officers). I was reminded as I thought about this about those brothers and sisters in Jesus for whom it was not a game or a youth activity.
There are Christians in the world who today will be beaten, tortured, raped, burned, displaced, made homeless, imprisoned, or even killed for the gospel witness. It is no game to them. They live or die for Jesus every single minute of every single day.
We easily get complacent in the United States with our Christianity. And it is easy to forget those who suffer horribly for Jesus. Join me in daily prayer for those who live for Jesus in places where it is hard to live for Jesus. From where we sit, it seems like the very least we can do ... lest we forget.
posted by John | Wednesday, May 21, 2008
1 Comments:
Hey John, I'd like to talk to you again! Say hi to Aleta!
Wayne
Post a Comment
<< Home