Worth Thinking About

This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful. [Revelation 13.10c]


How simple is that? For all the fuss made over John's writing in Revelation, here is one simple and timeless truth: God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.

In the midst of candles, scrolls, horses, seals, trumpets, and the likes, today's reading gives a glimmer of relief to the reader that, although complex in its presentation, the message of Revelation to the church is clear: God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.

But what does that mean?

One must be very careful to interpret "endure persecution" in a way that does not contradict "remain faithful." I think too often we give a sloppy description of enduring persecution as "taking whatever comes our way" but I personally don't see it that way. Too many times we forget the personification of Christian life, Jesus Himself, and we fail to recognize that His endurance of persecution and faithfulness were lived out, not in "taking whatever comes" but in actively "determining" Himself what would come. The fact remains, Jesus, on many occasions, seemed to be asking for trouble. He could have left a lot of things unspoken and undone and consequently suffered a lot less but He didn't.

Perhaps we could see this difference by simply changing the order in which John's two directives are given. Which is more like Jesus: remaining faithful because He first endured persecution or enduring persecution because He first remained faithful?

It is worth thinking about...

Father, there seems to be a huge difference in the way we see remaining faithful and enduring persecution. I feel like we have it backwards as if enduring persecution is the real goal. Today, I see that remaining faithful is the real goal and that enduring persecution will likely be the result!