I am 73 years old. Born in 1946 that makes me one of the early baby boomers (1944-1964). I remember the Korean Conflict, Viet Nam and the Anti-War protestors, the uncertainty of the Cold War, the civil rights movement, the plague of polio, discovery of AIDS, and many more wars and conflicts and troubles. I am not sure I remember any time as uncertain as what we are experiencing now.
I do not remember another time where the church has come under such attack in our nation for wanting simply to be together. Maybe, we have grown too comfortable, too complacent recently.
Perhaps we have forgotten Jesus’ words to His own shortly before His death. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” [John 15:18-22 NIV]
When we read those words, do we believe Jesus was simply talking about the few who were listening? Was the warning only for those disciples who would be the first to suffer persecution for His name’s sake? Do we think that we are now so “enlightened” as a world that Jesus’ words do not apply to us in our generation or in our society?
Maybe we do. Maybe we do because while our country was founded on the Christian principles of our forefathers seeking religious freedom from oppression, there is no guarantee that future generations are so inclined. We have not been challenged in decades, and like muscles that are not challenged, we have grown somewhat soft.
“No servant is greater than his master.” If they persecuted Jesus, they will also persecute us. The world does not love us – it cannot love us, but as Paul reminds us in Colossians 3, we are still to forbear, forgive, and we are to love.
Colossians 3:14: “…over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” [NIV]
