[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] WOUNDS FOR CHRIST

[mmoore11 at kent.edu]

From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
<committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io> On Behalf Of Mr. Ed via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2021 9:36 AM
To: Mr. Ed <pinky14 at abe.midco.net>
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] WOUNDS FOR CHRIST

 


WOUNDS FOR CHRIST


The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted
worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
<https://link.biblegateway.com/click/23465431.2969/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmlibGVnY
XRld2F5LmNvbS9wYXNzYWdlLz9zZWFyY2g9QWN0cy41LjQx/5ef562bd10222374f46b6174Ba8a
469c4> Acts 5:41

Today's devotional comes from Ron Boyd-MacMillan's excellent volume Faith
That Endures:

The Biblical scholar William Barclay famously described a New Testament
Christian as having three remarkable characteristics: "One, they were
absurdly happy; two, they were filled with an irrational love for everyone;
and three, they were always in trouble!"

Persecuted Christians are constantly in trouble. As a Palestinian pastor put
it, "If you speak truth to power, power always reacts." An encounter with
the persecuted reveals the incendiary nature of this gospel we follow, and
if our witness does not provoke some sort of explosive reaction, we have to
check whether our gospel powder is damp or dry. We should be in trouble for
Jesus! If we aren't, something is wrong.

Persecuted Christians are not tempted into the illusion that the world is
actually a friendly place that does not mind our identifying with Christ.
The world for them is unmasked in its hostility to Christ.

Once when visiting Czechoslovakia in the 1980's, I delivered a Bible to an
elderly pastor. He had not seen a Bible in years. He smelled it, kissed it
with trembling lips, cradled it, and then with great reverence, opened it.
Then he turned to me and said, "Let me tell you of my wounds." And he poured
out his trials for God, which included seven beatings by the secret police
and the awful seduction of his daughter by a government agent who then
fooled her into betraying him. Then he turned to me, his eyes boring into my
soul, and asked, "What wounds have you for the Master?" I was embarrassed to
have so few to share.

The questions of the persecuted church are simple: Are you in trouble for
Jesus? Where are your wounds? If you don't have any, maybe you've forgotten
you're in a fight at all. Whatever culture we are in, we are always being
subtly coerced into spending our money, or time, on what is not of Christ.
Persecution afflicts us all if we stand up for Christ. The world, the flesh,
and the devil will never reach an accommodation with Christ. Like it or not,
we are caught up in cosmic warfare. The gospel has landed us in it. We will
all be scarred by the battle. We will all experience persecution. The
difference is only one of degree and type.[1]

RESPONSE: Today I will evaluate my life and assess what are my wounds for
Christ. I will then rejoice in suffering for Jesus.

PRAYER: Lord, I submit to Your Lordship over my life and accept whatever
wounds You will enable me to bear for Your sake and the gospel's.

1. Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Faith That Endures (Grand Rapids: Fleming Revell,
2006), pp. 322-323.

Provided by Bible Gateway:

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