The Trials [part 3]

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

In this third and final part, I want to just wrap up…

In the book of Matthew it says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  (11)  “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me.  (12)  Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12 HCSB)

As Christians, sometimes we expect things to get easier for us, since we are on God’s side…  We face Trials…  Besides persecution, I’m sure you can think of 100 other examples of types of trials we might face in life…  Why do we have to go through them in the first place?!

I dealt with that question a little bit previously in a post called The Suffering, but perhaps that is a question left to God.  Perhaps each time, there is a different reason with each person.  Perhaps there is only one reason.  I do not know exactly.  But what I do know is that there is a reason.  There is a hope at the end of all the trials, the suffering and the pain.  A true hope.  One that will not fail us.  One who knows and has felt all that we have been through…

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on the vast plain before God’s Throne. Some shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But many other groups talked heatedly, not cringing with shame, but with belligerence.

“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?”, snapped a pert brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beating … torture … death!”

 
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The Trials, Part 2

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Let’s look at one story…  The Persecuted…

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar has ordered a decree that all people must bow down and worship a golden statue that he has built.  Whoever does not will be cast in to the furnace of blazing fire.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to do this, in spite of King Nebuchadnezzar’s command to worship a god.  The King vows to kill them if they do not obey him, giving them a second chance…

Daniel 3:15-28 (HCSB/(JKP edit)) says, “Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the (music), fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire–and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”  (16) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question.  (17) If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king.”

But notice what else they say…
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The Trials, Part 1

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

As a Christian, Trials will come

2 Timothy 3:12 (HCSB) says, “In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (emphasis mine).

Also, in James 1:2-3 (HCSB) it says, “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

So now, just because we have become Christians, does this mean that life will get easy now?  No more hardships, trials, bad things happening?  No!  Bad things happen.  Bad things happen to good people and bad people alike.  Bad things even happen to the best of people.

In India in 2008, over 50,000 Christians were displace, and lost their homes for the sole purpose that they were Christians!
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