Pray for Christians Condemned to Death

by Timothy Howe

Recently, the government of North Korea has condemned 33 Christians to death for what it calls subversive activity. Unfortunately, this action is not something new in that country. North Korea is one of the most repressive governments in the world. Our brothers and sisters have suffered a great deal there. Please pray for them. The following link offers a brief description - 33 Christians to be executed. The video on the webpage is hard to watch but very informative.

And yet they are not the only ones suffering around the world right now. We have brothers and sisters in many countries who cannot express their faith with freedom. Recent reports coming out of Syria indicate that Christians are not only suffering during that countries civil war, but are also direct targets of attack on account of their faith. Similar attacks have occurred throughout much of the region that has experience political turmoil in the past couple of years.

This should not surprise us. Persecution of Believers has been the more common reality in most times and places during the church's history. It has only been a relatively short time in human history that religious freedom has existed. All throughout the New Testament we are told that this would happen. In one place, 1 Peter 4:12 tells us:

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. (1 Pet. 4:12 NLT)

Someone might argue that we are the blessed ones to live in a country with freedom of religion, but history and personal experience has shown that those who endure hardship for the sake of faith tend to walk in a deeper faith. I pray for increased struggles and lessened comforts for free Christians even as I pray for the end of suffering for those experiencing it.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in North Korea.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Syria.
Please pray for our brothers and sisters in ...
     throughout the world
     who are being
     persecuted for their faith.

Loss

by Timothy Howe

How lonely sits the city that was full of people!

How like a widow has she become,

She who was great among the nations!

She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.

She weeps bitterly in the night with tears on her cheeks;

Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her;

All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;

They have become her enemies.

Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude;

She dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place;

Her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival;

All her gates are desolate; her priests groan;

Her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.

Look, O Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns;

My heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious.

In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.

Lamentations 1:1-4, 20 ESV

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, 
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,..." 

Luke 9:21-22a ESV 

Jesus' Loss

Jesus understood pain and suffering. He embraced it. He foretold His followers that He would suffer, he would be rejected and he would be killed. And He was killed in the most gruesome of fashions. Indeed, Jesus suffered loss. He suffered. He was rejected. He was killed.

Jesus' Loss Paved the Way for Our Loss

Jesus' loss was not limited to Him alone though. We share in His loss. In fact, Jesus described how He expected His followers to also suffer loss in Luke 9:23ff.          He anticipated hardship for His followers, and even instructed His followers to suffer loss. 

          He told His followers to accept loss by denying self.

          He told His followers to embrace loss by taking up our cross.

          He told His followers to properly evaluate loss for His sake.

This day of loss reminds us that He is not ignorant of your pain, your sorrows, your difficulties. 

True Loss vs. Temporary Loss

Yet, Jesus measures our pains differently than we do. He measures our problems compared with what He has in store for us for all eternity. He redeems temporal loss with eternal gain. Jesus counts what is true loss and contrasts temporal loss with eternal loss. In Luke 9:26 He explains the consequences for those unwilling to suffer loss in this world for His sake - the Son of Man will be ashamed of him!


Temporary Loss and Eternal Gain
Our lives have pains, sorrows and loss. Jesus understands them. On this Day of Loss, know that Jesus took a temporary loss and turned it into our eternal gain. 

Reflect on His Temporary Sacrifice.

Cling to His Eternal Gain.