“By your endurance you will gain your souls”
At any given time, if we were to study the world news carefully, we would find Christians being persecuted. As things are at this particular moment, this reading feels especially apposite. I’ve already written this week about standing with those who are suffering for the Gospel – it is one of the primary tasks of faith I think, something which we in the UK are largely blind to. Often we are told that this is merciful, or a blessing and, certainly, I’d rather have the life I have, for myself or my family, than those experienced by those who are displaced, injured or even killed for their belief in the person of Jesus and His good news. However, Jesus is unequivocal here, we gain our souls through our endurance for the gospel. I wonder if this means that, if we are not sacrificing or suffering in some way as a result of our faith, we’re somehow not doing it right. I’m not saying that this is a positive, or perhaps even helpful message, and I could well be way off, but if my faith doesn’t challenge my life, if it doesn’t cause me any kind of difficulty at all, is it real faith?
Don’t go out and seek to be a martyr for the sake of it today, but seek ways to endure, to be refined, to be challenged. Ask questions, rail against injustice, think of others before myself. These are my challenges to myself today. Join with me?