It hurts when this happens. It doesn’t feel good, at all. And when you’re older, things may be even worse for you than they are for Christians of my generation. In our country, people of faith are called names and made fun of because of their beliefs. We are made to be the “bad guy” when we don’t agree with the popular opinion. But in other countries, Christians are imprisoned, torutred, and killed for their faith, so I consider our current troubles to be pretty minor…
…and always totally worth it. The person of Christ, and his gift of salvation, is more powerful than anything we are called to endure in His name. I believe that, and I hope you will too.
I know sometimes we think the Christian life should be 100% rosy—after all, if we “live our lives right” won’t we be REWARDED by God? The truth is, kiddos, that the moment you accepted Christ into your life and received forgiveness from your sins, you got ALL you need from Him on this earth and beyond. He doesn’t owe us anything, but He gave us everything. He told his own disciples:
“…in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.” (John 16:2-4)
To drive that point home, he also told them a few verses later that “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (verse 33). He left us this in His word so that we can KNOW it’s gonna happen, but that we can have PEACE through our troubles because they are of this world and temporary—and He’s everything we need to get through them.
Kids, this world is NOT going to “get” you or me. They aren’t going to understand why our faith impels us to do things they might see as “bad”—at the time of this writing, there are lots of behaviors that go against God’s word that Christians are called “bad guys” (and worse) for not accepting or agreeing with. (There’s a huge double standard here, but that’s an article for another day.)
Paul addresses this when he talks to the church in 1 Corinthians 2, saying,
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
They are gonna think you’re fools, kids. They will call you haters, when you know in your heart that you love, love, love your neighbors. They will overlook any good you do— or worse, distort it until it looks bad.
And yet.
Christ has overcome the world. All the battles you’ve yet to fight are ALREADY WON. When we leave this world and enter into the place He has prepared for us in Heaven, we will see clearly. Until then, there are some burdens, some troubles, that we have to be content to let Him carry for us. And since I am your mama, I hope you will come to me and let me help you bear the burdens and troubles of living for Christ in a world that kicks against Him, too.
Oh, and also; YOU’RE GROUNDED.
Just kidding.
Love you,
Mom
