# 336- Today's Living Word comes from Mr 4:16,17 "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; "and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. (Mr 4:16,17)
Have you ever been persecuted for the word's sake? Do you know what that looks like? It doesn't come from simply practicing your Christian faith. Real persecution comes when you keep insisting that Jesus is the Lord and He is the ONLY WAY to the Father.
In his classic film series, “How Should We Then Live?” Francis Schaefer makes the point that the Christians that were thrown to the lions in Rome, weren't persecuted because of their faith. Rome could care less about what people believed, as long as people gave some homage to the emperor, but the Christians refused to acknowledge the emperor as Lord and kept insisting that Jesus is the only Lord and the only way to the Father. Read Acts 9:2, and ask yourself, “Why were the early Christians called the Way?”
This is becoming a major problem in our nation today as more and more people, even in the church, are claiming that everyone's faith is valid and there are many ways to God.
Why would professing Christians do that in light of the penalty that Christ paid for our sins? I would suggest that it's because their roots haven't dug deep enough into the love of God. And they have not allowed the truth of Jn 14:6 to work up the soil of their heart. “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.
I'm Duane Matz and that's Today's Living Word.
No comments :
Post a Comment