2nd Timothy

Probably not the most uplifting post for the last day of 2009....but I was reading a devotional yesterday on 2 Timothy 3-4 (thanks sis) and this commentary really struck a chord with me.

Verse 12
Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

The absence of persecution, in any active sense, from the lives of most Christians of this era is generally due to the watered-down version of their Christianity and not to any subsidence of the savage hatred of the darkness for the light. Besides that, persecutions today are manifested much more indirectly. Promotions are withheld, invitations are denied, and a snickering unpopularity are the daily portion of many precious souls working in a hostile, atheistic environment. Given the right conditions, such oppositions would be just as deadly as the great Roman persecutions.

Why does the world hate Christians? "Because ye are not of the world ... therefore the world hateth you"(John 15:19; Matthew 10-:22, 38,39). In the light of this warning from the Saviour, no Christian should be surprised at persecution. The doctrine of the necessity of persecution was no new thing to Paul. Luke recorded the very words spoken on the mission field long ago, "Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God"(Acts 14:22); and, in the words of White, "Consistency in the life of Christ must necessarily be always opposed by the world."

...Life, not exactly a bed of roses....not supposed to be.