Persecution comes in all different shapes, sizes, and intensities. We do not get to pick out our cross. We are only instructed to pick it up and carry it. Paul wrote to Timothy, “all who live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Perhaps that is not what you signed up for when you gave your life to Christ. But there it is. We may seek compromise to avoid it — relief rather than peace. But consider the words of Ralph Erskine. “Some may bless themselves they were never assaulted by the devil and yet they are but sleeping, as it were, in the devil’s cradle and he is rocking them.”
What is your response to persecution? To the intense pressure that comes with taking up a cross and following Christ? Where will you seek rest? In the promises of the Faithful one or the devil’s cradle? Join us this week as we continue our survey Revelation as we examine the message to the Church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11 and its encouragement to persevere in the face of extreme pressure.
River City Reformed Church 