Whiny Baby Sissy-Mary Christians (the call to courage in these times)

Outside of this blog, I’m not very brave.

It bothers me when people don’t like me or misunderstand something I’ve said or disapprove of my opinion. I know I have a high tolerance for pain, but if someone made me sit in an uncomfortable chair in a room with nothing to read or do and ignored me, I’d be giving up state secrets in a matter of hours. That’s all to say that what I’m about to write is as challenging for me as it may sound to you.

I believe a time is near when American Christians will endure intensified social persecution but I think we shouldn’t whine about it.

It’s good that there are watchmen and watchwomen who post blogs and news reports about ways that our religious freedoms are being eroded (more quickly every day, it seems) in favor of social agendas and political correctness. I don’t think, though, that we should gather on Facebook or Twitter and bemoan the coming tide or reminisce about the past like a bunch of hand-wringing school marms wondering what to do when the black hats ride into town.

Christians are not victims and we so we shouldn’t act like victims. We are not civilians in the war for souls, we’re soldiers. Our enemy isn’t the NEA, NRA, Democrats, Republicans, or the LGBTQ community. Our enemy is the deceptive power of Satan at work in the world and we need to be on guard against his tactics, one of which is to get us acting like whiny sissy-Mary’s over every form of persecution and another of which is to treat like enemies the lost souls we’re called to love and serve.

There are brothers and sisters in other parts of the world losing homes and jobs for the name of Jesus. Imprisoned in His name. Separated from loved ones, suffering bodily harm, financial ruin, and even death because they claim the name of Jesus Christ. That, alone, should keep us from whining.

No one took Jesus’ life from Him. He laid His life down. He submitted to arrest, to beating, to prosecution. Isaiah 53 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

It’s easy to get sucked in to a victim mentality. “Oh, the intolerant world is restricting the freedoms of the poor, persecuted Christians.” But that isn’t a wide-angle perspective on the truth. The truth is that as Satan senses his time drawing near, he will lash out against those who belong to Jesus and life is going to get intense.

But we are not victims.

We are sons and daughters of the Most High King. We are soldiers serving under Christ. We are servants of the owner of this planet and our lives and futures belong to Him. We are salt. So when the decaying meat tells us we are no longer wanted, ultimately, it is the meat that suffers loss. We are light. So when those living in darkness seek to limit our influence, it is they who will stumble and fall.

In our love, we work and fight to remain at the task of being salt, at being light, but when we cease to do this for the love of others and act simply out of self-preservation, it ceases to be a work in the service of the Lord. Jesus laid His life down and calls us to do the same.

Remember Wesley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride? Whenever Buttercup would selfishly order Wesley around, because he loved her, he would obey and respond, “As you wish.” Eventually, this won her over and she learned to love in return.

As I said, I’m not as brave as what I write, but if we truly love those who are lost, is there a place for this type of sacrifice in our own culture? When they tell us to stop praying in the schools, what if we reply, “As you wish.” When they tell us to keep our God out of their government, what if we reply, “As you wish.” When they tell us we are not welcome in their discourse, their movies, their airwaves, or their bookstores, what if we reply, “As you wish.”

But we don’t cease in the fight, for after all, the real fight happens on our knees and through our obedience to Christ. The real fight happens every morning when our feet hit the floor and we face the choice of living for ourselves or for Him. We truly fight by abandoning the farce of victimhood and embracing the call to lay our lives down for those He came to save.

This is just what I’ve been thinking because it’s hard for me to picture Jesus whining and wishing we were back in the fifties. I know He has compassion on each of us. No matter how little the world values us, He sees us, loves us, and knows our worth. But, the people of the Most High King who know their future is eternally secure should not flail, cry out, and run around like Chicken Little. The sky isn’t falling, loved ones. We’re witnessing what our Lord and King said would come to pass. He has equipped us. He will deliver us. He is with us.

Whiny Baby Sissy Mary Christians https://t.co/HNZmF1krM7 the call to courage in these times #persecution#amwriting#courage

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) August 10, 2016

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