Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is 1 Kings 19-20; Matthew 10:21-42
Chapter 19 starts off just after Elijah has performed a miracle (with God's help) making it visible to all who were there that God is the only true God and Baal was a fake. Elijah went on to kill all the prophets of Baal afterwards.
In chapter 19 we read how Elijah is running for his life after Jezebel threatens to kill him for what he did to the prophets of Baal. Elijah is terrified but God helps him again and shows himself to Elijah in a few more miracles. First God sends an angel to give Elijah food, then He reveals himself to Elijah by causing a massive wind that breaks off a part of a mountain, followed by an earthquake and fire. God then spoke to Elijah in a gentle voice giving him instructions to go back and anoint Elisha as the next prophet.
Even though Israel and Judah keep sinning against God, God still provides prophets to help those that want to obey God. It says in verse 18 that there were approximately 7000 in Israel that still obeyed God. Those 7000 reminded me of the Christians in North America. We Christians were once in the majority here in Canada (like all of Israel once followed God) and Canada's laws were based upon what the Bible teaches. We are now in the minority and our nation doesn't seem to want anything to do with God. And yet God still provides good leaders in our churches . This makes me appreciate our pastors and church leaders.
In our New Testament reading we read more about how difficult it is to follow Christ. This goes along with what I mentioned earlier that struck me, about God's followers being in the minority back in Elijah's day. The same thing is true today, Christians are in the minority here, and shouldn't expect to have it easy. In fact, we can expect persecution in some form and need to be ready to respond in a way that honours God and shows that we are proud to follow him, and not ashamed.
That is my prayer and goal, to not be ashamed anytime, that I'm a follower of Christ.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: 1 Kings 21-22; Matthew 11
3 comments:
In our passage today we see that the great prophet Elijah was also "human". Despite the amazing fire from heaven miracle, he reacts out of discouragement and fear and forgets what God has done. How often do we do the same? God reminds him that often the kingdom is advanced through slow and steady progress, and that the solution to discouragement and fear is to get back to work for God.
SO true. We are in the minority. It would seem that everyone has rights EXCEPT Christians.
This verse kind of relates to that:
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
It's not going to be easy to be a Christian. It won't always be peaceful. We will need to stand up to fight against what is wrong and contrary to God's commands and defend what we believe.
The NT passage reminded me that as followers of Christ, we are emulate Him. True disciples will proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God, worthy of all praise and worship, Lord of all, and Savior of repentant sinners.
In verse 23 Jesus told his disciples that "when you're persecuted in one place, flee to another." He didn't say if you're persecuted, but when you're persecuted. As Christians we will be persecuted, but Jesus encourages us to persevere and stand firm until the end.
Not that I want to be persecuted, but I feel that I am not being persecuted enough, by a lack of declaring my faith in God. Something I challenge myself to do.
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