In the little Baptist church I grew up in, we were unabashedly conservative; our pastor used to say (to many shouts of “AMEN!”) that we were Independent, Fundamental, Bible-believin’, Devil-hatin’, Gospel-preachin’, Hymn-singin’, Good News Baptists, and we weren’t the least bit ashamed of it, thank you very much!
My family became Messianic in my mid-teens. I was old enough to understand what I was doing when I switched, and I was proud of the move. I believed whole-heartedly what I was learning in the Messianic Church—it answered questions and made sense of some things that never had made sense before. It resonated in my heart, and I knew it was right. But the Messianic lifestyle, too, was very counter-culture—perhaps more so than even Baptist doctrine.
I grew up hearing a lot of sermons about persecution of Christians in other countries—how governments would hunt them down, citizens would make their lives miserable, how they’d spend time in prison with barely enough food to sustain them, get their churches burned down, the lengths they’d go to to sneak a Bible into the country—and I always counted myself blessed to live in America, where we don’t have to worry about being persecuted.
Well. I was right—but I was also wrong.
I never had much sympathy for dramatic people who whined about how hard the Christian life is, how they’d get made fun of, mocked, hated, and lectured for standing up for what they believed. Frankly, I had no experience like that—most people, when they learned what I believed, just left me alone about it, even if they didn’t agree. Those who didn’t rarely gave me more than a cursory “you’re so very wrong and also crazy.”
It hasn’t been until recently I’ve begun to understand what the Whiny Christians meant—although my intent here isn’t to complain. Just hear me out.
Satan doesn’t much care how he renders us ineffective, he just cares that he succeeds. In some places, that is most easily accomplished by physically persecuting God’s people and making them miserable. Here—here it is more devious. More subtle.
The battle for our souls—and after we’re saved, the battle for our hearts and minds—is a spiritual one, that takes place on a spiritual plane. It’s not a physical battle. This, I have come to realize, means that fighting for what you believe is right is difficult regardless of the physical consequences. That’s not to minimize the persecution of Christians in other countries—their battle is legitimate, and difficult, and sometimes near impossible. But it IS to say that the battle we face here is also very real. Whether you’re being thrown in prison or being betrayed by a friend you trusted, the pain is just as cutting.
I might even say it’s almost harder here. To be honest, I’d rather be flogged for what I believe than systematically torn down, lectured, accused of being a “hater”, and rejected for it. Emotionally, being whipped or thrown in jail or killed—that’s all external. It’d only reinforce my belief and my stubbornness in holding to it. But to be attacked from the inside—that’s more devious, harder to resist, and ultimately more devastating. I would rather die a violent death than slowly crumble from the inside and become useless to the Lord, living on either extreme—either judgmental and bitter, or having abandoned my beliefs completely and lost my testimony.
Unfortunately, that’s what most of Christianity has become these days—we have people running around calling themselves “Christian”, and one couldn’t really tell by how they live; they’re dishonest, cruel, manipulative, angry, bitter, and undependable. Satan has destroyed just as many Christians in America by crushing their hearts as he has in other countries by crushing their bodies. Things like peer pressure, societal expectations, and political jargon have rendered much of the Lord’s body ineffective. How can we maintain our identity in Christ with comments like these flung at us every day:
“Being with you would be one step short of dating a nun.”
“Don’t be such a square, there’s nothing wrong with drinking.”
“I love being a heathen, I can do whatever I want without worrying about judging or being judged.”
“You’re a virgin, eh? Well what’s wrong with you?”
“Christians are all hypocrites and judgmental prats. They expect us to all be like them.”
I’m sure each of you have heard your own versions of these, and other, statements, intended to tear you down. When coming from strangers, they’re annoying at most; but when they come from those you care for…that’s when the real damage is done.
So here’s my point to all this: when you’re reconsidering your faith, when you’re a hairsbreadth from deciding it’s not worth it anymore, when you’re on the edge of reason and thinking it’d be better to give up living to the standards God has set for you--remember that this is Satan’s way of rendering you ineffective. He wants to destroy you and your testimony, break you, throw enough mud at you to obscure the light of Christ shining through your life.
Don’t give him the satisfaction, my friends.
Lean on the Father, lean on each other, and keep your candle bright.
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