OUR DAILY BREAD
Tuesday
May 7, 2013
We Can Trust Him
Read: Matthew 10:32-38
Bless those who curse you, do
good to those who hate you, and pray for those who . . . persecute you. —Matthew
5:44
I know very little about
persecution. My physical well-being has never been threatened because of what I
believe or what I say. What little I “know”
about the subject comes from what I hear and read. But that is not true for
many of our brothers and sisters around the world. Some of them live in danger
every day simply because they love Jesus and want others to know Him too.
There is another form of
persecution that may not be life-threatening, but it is heartbreaking. It’s
the persecution that comes from non-Christian family members. When loved ones
ridicule our faith and mock us for what we believe and how we express our love
for God, we feel rejected and unloved.
Paul warned believers that
following Jesus would result in persecution: “All
who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”
(2 Tim. 3:12), and we know that sometimes rejection will come from those we
love (Matt. 10:34-36). But when people we love reject the God we love, the
rejection feels personal.
Jesus told us to pray for
those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44), and that includes more than strangers who
hate us. God is able to give us grace to persevere through persecution even
when it comes from those we love. —Julie Ackerman Link
Lord, give us grace to pray
for those
Who seek our harm and not our
good;
And teach us how to show them
love
In ways that will be
understood. —Sper
People may mock our message
but they can’t stop our prayers.
Goodmorning
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