Will be persecuted

“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (2 Timothy 3:12)

 

Tomorrow the 23rd day in August is Cheoseo, the 14th among the 24 sorts of the Korean Seasonal days. Cheoseo word signifies finishing the heat of Summer. Therefore, Cheoseo the time is officially day ending the hot summer season of the year. Even though it’s hot or cold, we should be thankful and cheer up at any conditions, but unlike that, we constantly complain hot that it’s hot and cold that it’s cold. Yet, even if it’s hot or cold, people never give up to eat. It is common for them to attach absolute importance to eat food for the flesh, but not pay attention to the health of their own souls. Now that we have let send off hot days far, why don’t you read the words of God for your soul to get up vigorously?

 

As the earth grows older, discomfort and pain of human life because of natural change will be gradually worsen. In the old days, Korean land was called Geumsugangsan meaning the Beautiful Land, but now materials of water and air are much polluted and became the circumstances inconvenient to live in. Also along with worsen nature, people’s emotions and lives also have been changing become harsh little by little than before. Paul the apostle clearly foretold those points of problem, and asked Timothy nevertheless to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

Modern people’s characteristics are as follows. They are the lovers of themselves, lovers of money, and boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, people without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of rather pleasure than loving for God. The fundamental cause of those characteristics comes from that they had excluded faith in God. And even the faith they put up is focused on appearance, that is, far from the faith of practice life. Every item listed above has a trait of being hostile to God’s truth. We must look at ourselves through the mirror of God’s truth and find out what points do not belong to Christ. If you do not renew self in the Holy Spirit, your life would be destroyed just as Jannes and Jambres who had opposed Moses in the wilderness. Do best to become glorious life saved in Jesus.

Many people cry for justice and even fight with blooding. However, there are many cases come to failure to an end because of no perseverance. For their life was threatened by continuous trials and persecution before them. People who had betrayed Korean brethren or worshiped Japanese shrine in Japanese colonial rule of the past could not happily welcome the upcoming the liberation. Paul had suffered earlier many hardships and persecutions in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra for the mission of Christ’s gospel, but the Lord delivered him securely. As he had experienced a victory in Christ of the grace, he was able to give certainly lessons of vigilance to Timothy. It is an important law of the world that hardship would act as an essential factor for good. It’s a wrong attitude of faith like that you just sit there and expect the fruits to fall down from the tree. Rather it is a desirable attitude of faith to take hardship for granted and move forward proudly. If there is no persecution in living godly in Jesus Christ, it would be already next heaven there, not this world. Heaven in this world is an energetic life itself proceeding forward overcoming persecution in the Holy Spirit of Jesus.

‘Will be persecuted’, this phrase is not a title with intention to give a negative image. Rather, it is a title that encourages to have a strong will in Christ. Even when the life get faced with a worse reality, such the faith of a godly life with strong will can be only made through reading the Bible words. You don’t know how much you’ll be dangerous in life of faith if you don’t read the Bible. And yet, there are so many people among us who are indifferent to reading the Bible. And, not a little people try to be satisfied just by listening to the sermon. But listening to sermons and reading the Bible are greatly different. It will be effective and useful for yourself if you listen to the sermon with trying to read the Bible.

 

If one student wants to go to an advanced school someone wishes, the student has to study hard at any conditions. To get a good job, one has to develop one’s own ability to win the competition. to Also to live as the winner of faith in the world, you must fight persecution strongly. To acquire eternal citizenship in heaven, we must actively defeat all the trials of the world. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” Amen! Oh, Lord, thank you.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Aug 22nd 2021)