Christians have a lot of different ideas about what it looks like to follow Jesus.
That’s okay. We follow a real and living God so while our salvation is only through Jesus, what our lives and ministries look like will vary wildly. The church isn’t an institution, it’s the family of God in relationship with Him and with one another, carried out in different times, locations, cultures, languages, and opportunities.
Our ideas of what a life following Jesus looks like are impacted by our understanding of the Bible, our place in the world, the times in which we live, our personality, our giftings, the other believers around us, and our experiences.
Most Christians with an awareness of the world worry about the skewed perspective of us followers in the Western church. Well, I worry about MY skewed perspective, anyway. Americans and others in the West have had the privilege of living in relative safety and for years experienced a culture that had at least a basic understanding and acceptance of our faith. We read our Bibles from calm, cushy seats and that colors the lens through which we process God’s great story.
For much of my life, I’ve lived in the first three verses of Psalm 23. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” Thankfully, I’ve often lingered in an abundance of green pastures and gazed out over clear blue still waters. I am a soul restored.
Still, over the years, I’ve come to appreciate that the paths leading to righteousness for His names’ sake aren’t always the smooth and sunny saunters I’d prefer. Of course, the primary path, which must be chosen even to become a sheep in His fold is the Way that leads through Christ. But then, as we follow where Christ leads, we encounter some steep and rocky roads. As we should. The road Jesus walked was no life of ease. He was a man of suffering, acquainted with grief.
Since 2020, I’ve felt a strong leading to listen to the voices of those who live in places hostile to our faith, the voices of the persecuted in our times and in times past. They know Jesus in ways I can barely fathom–me who used to consider it a sacrifice simply to rise 30-minutes earlier to have a few moments with Jesus as I sipped my favorite coffee and read from one of the dozens of Bibles on my shelves.
But like others, I hear the coming hoofbeats and believe those who have faced hostility and persecution are our tutors now.
Where I’ve imagined my lifelong address would be in the first three verses of Psalm 23, these Jesus-followers reside in the valley of the shadow of death surrounded by God’s enemies. Initially, I feared it would be depressing or overwhelminly sad to listen to their voices. Instead, it’s been both a strong encouragment and a challenge to my faith.
These brothers and sisters, who do not court persecution but simply seek to follow Jesus and obey His Word suffer regularly, often daily, and yet, they know the green pastures, still waters, and restored souls Jesus provides even in darkened prisons, even while burying murdered husbands, even while praying for kidnapped daughters. They have sat at tables prepared before their enemies and known the annointing oil of the overflowing ministry of His Holy Spirit.
Those who suffer, know full well that Jesus is everything, even when everything is gone except lonliness, suffering, hunger, and pain.
They know the joy of reaching into hearts yielded to Christ and finding there abundant love for the very men and women who torture them, separate them from their families, or deny their freedom.
There’s nothing romantic about living in countries or with families hostile to Christ. Knowing that a declaration of faith will cost not only us but our loved ones to suffer. Seeing the cruelty and unkindness of people deceived by the enemy. Going without work, opportunity, freedom, food, beauty, human compassion, or the comfort of other believers. These believers hold onto heaven because they will not see much of ease or personal fulfillment this side of glory.
And yet, they know Jesus and suffer rather than deny Him. Suffer to bear witness to the truth of Him. Suffer so that others will know Him and live eternally, too.
I hesitate to share the gospel simply for fear of offending or of receiving someone’s disapproval. This isn’t a failure of evangelism–it’s a failure of mission, of purpose, of faith, and of love.
Yes, the gospel is an offense but it is also the doorway to life. It is the only path to eternity spent in the presence of God who is love, light, beauty, goodness, kindness, holiness, joy, power, righteousness, and life. Eternity without God is eternity without those pleasures–separated from everything we crave.
Our God leads us to green pastures but following Him also leads down paths of righteousness for His names’ sake and through the valley of the shadow of death. We aren’t exempt from those paths here in the West and we’ll likely visit them more often as the time for His return draws near.
I was wrong about what I would find listening to the voices of those who suffer for Christ. Many of them speak of freedom, of joy, of greater love for others, of deeper commitment to Jesus, of a boldness that strikes light that pushes back the deepest dark in places the enemy thought he owned. Their words have challenged and encouraged me and shaken me awake from where I dozed among the poppies.
So loved ones, NOW is the time to know Jesus. Follow Him. Read the entire Bible again and again. Pray and listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Obey what God commands. Speak the truth and serve your neighbor without fear. Listen with compassion, exercise kindness, but speak often of the risen Christ and His power of life over death. Seek less a life of ease and become comfortable with discomfort for this was the path of Christ. Forget distractions. He is our purpose. He is our focus. He is our life.
There will be green pastures and still waters but they are found in Him. When we discover this, we discover a freedom no one nor any circumstance can take from us. In Christ, we are truly free.
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” 1 Peter 3:13-17 ESV
Thoughts? I respond to every comment and reply to every email. Praying you are blest in the New Year, whether through comfort or through trial.
We follow Jesus down some rocky paths, what do we learn from the voices of the persecuted? https://t.co/HIOMtehnkL #persecution #Psalm23
— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) January 17, 2025
The Conversation
Hi Lori,
Thank you for this post. I have a copy of Richard Wurmbrand’s “With Christ in the Communist Prisons.” I read it many years ago before writing my devotional Sure Mercies. Both Richard and his wife Sabina are in my book. It is not easy to read their stories, but we see how God was so faithful to them, even when Richard spent years in solitary confinement in Romanian prison. Maybe we here in the West might learn a thing or two from them.
God bless,
Megan Vance
Absolutely, we can learn, if we will. Thanks, Megan!