| The Christian Life | May 1940 |
Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake
“All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”—II Timothy 3:12
UNTIL the Kingdom of Christ is fully established in the earth, persecution will continue to be the inevitable result of living godly in Christ. Jesus. The followers of Christ cannot expect to receive different treatment than He received. Jesus was persecuted because He let His light shine in a darkened world. The Master’s godliness consisted of His full obedience to the Father’s will, in every detail. He was obedient in the study of the Word, and enthusiastically energetic in the carrying out of that Word, in His thoughts, words and deeds. A part of the divine will was that He should proclaim the truth of the Kingdom, also that He should expose the false doctrines and practices of the scribes and Pharisees. Because He did this, He brought upon Himself the enmity of those who walked in darkness. As the servant is not above his master, so we must expect opposition—opposition that will continue until we finish our course in death.
Our natural preference would be to take a course in life that would avoid persecution. Should we follow the dictates of the flesh, we would seek the friendship of the world and enjoy its pleasures. But as consecrated Christians we cannot yield to the desires of the flesh. We must seek, instead—in harmony with our covenant of sacrifice—the Lord’s will and be faithful in doing it. It is His will that we be His ambassadors. Having, as the apostle suggests, shined into our hearts by the Gospel, He expects that we, in turn, will permit the Gospel light to shine through our lives for the blessing and encouragement of others. It is faithfulness in thus representing the God of Light a world that is controlled by the prince of darkness, that brings down upon the faithful the bitter persecution of the adversary and of all that are influenced by him.
From this standpoint it readily can be seen that the Christian life is not one of ease and tranquility. True, no matter how fierce the opposition, we can, by faith and trust, enjoy the peace of God reigning in our hearts. But this will not be peace insofar as our contacts with the world are concerned. Should we find ourselves able always to agree with our friends and neighbors and never sense that they look upon us with a degree of disdain because of faithfulness in light-bearing, we might have good reason to question how vital is our relationship with the Lord.
To be really in the Lord’s service involves a great deal. It means that our wills must be fully surrendered to the doing of His will. Furthermore, having covenanted to do His will, we will pursue a careful and continual study of the Scriptures in order that we may understand the divine plan, and particularly that part of the plan in which we are invited to co-operate. As we become daily better acquainted with God’s will, we should also imbibe of its spirit—a spirit of hearty co-operation in the divine arrangement that will lead to a daily laying down of our all in the interests of the Kingdom.
If we have truly caught the spirit of the divine will for us, it means that to the extent of our ability we will be faithful in the service of the Truth at whatever cost or sacrifice. And we will be thus faithful, knowing that, eventually, it will cost us everything. It was so with the Master. He entered into a covenant of sacrifice with the Father at Jordan, but the terms of this covenant were not fully carried out by Him until He had finished His course in death. Prior to this the Master said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with: and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”—Luke 12:50
Let us then, dear brethren, measure our standing in divine grace not by the outward peace and tranquility with which our lives may be surrounded, but by the evidences that we have been faithful in letting our light shine even though this has brought upon ourselves the foretold persecution that must and will come upon all who are truly faithful as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.