Godliness & Persecution

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Tim 3:12

What a lovely call to godliness. Great recruitment line, isn’t it? If you live a godly life according to the standards of Christ, you will be persecuted. So, come on! It’ll be fun!

If I am truly honest with myself, I am not ready for the persecution. I just plain don’t want it. I read about persecuted believers from history. I read about what persecuted believers are dealing with today. Meanwhile, my imagination can come up with some pretty crazy scenarios some days, knowing what things can possible face my own family in the near future.

Yesterday I was having a conversation with Olivia about being diligent to do even the things that we don’t want to do. The question just popped out of my mouth:

“If you were told that you had to say you didn’t love Jesus or face going to jail, would you want to make the right choice?”

Her eyes grew big and her protests grew silent. We started talking about the beauty of being able to practice with the “easy” things.

I don’t know specifically what my challenge is today. All I know is that I have to acknowledge that if I continue to pursue a life of godliness, the persecution will come. In all honesty, I have no choice – I can’t walk away from the pursuit of godliness. There is no other way to live. But, I can choose to pursue it timidly, trying to stave off persecution as long as possible, or I can pursue it boldly, knowing that even though the persecution will follow, it is still the most perfect and beautiful path I could ever imagine.