The Promise Nobody Wants

2 Timothy 3:12 - "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."

Here's a promise from God's Word that we don't often put on our coffee mugs or hang on our walls. Paul says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Not maybe. Not some of you. All. Will. That's a promise from God's Word.

Sometimes we say we're standing on the promises. Sometimes we say, "Let's hold fast to the promises," and we like to reflect on God's good promises. Well, that's one promise He has given to you as a believer: if you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution.

• 65% felt that they were misunderstood, 
• 60% felt persecuted, 
• 53% felt marginalized, 
• 48% felt sidelined, and 
• 50% felt that they had been silenced.¹

Think about that last statistic - half of evangelical Christians in America feel they've been silenced. That is a level of persecution. That's how this promise applies to your life and my life today as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's a powerful story from Nik Ripken's The Insanity of God that illustrates how our perspective on persecution needs to be adjusted. Ripken discovered something fascinating about persecuted Christians overseas - they were standing strong for their faith, dealing with incredible amounts of persecution, some even imprisoned, some even beaten. And yet they were not writing their stories down. Sometimes, God would deliver them from their persecution, but they still didn't write down their stories or share them with others.

Finally, Ripken asked a group of those leaders, "Why are you not telling your stories? This would encourage the American church. This would encourage your children. This would encourage your grandchildren to be faithful to the Lord."

One of those Christian leaders pulled him aside and said, "Nik, do you describe to your children the rising of the sun?" Ripken replied, "Well, I can't say that I have." The leader continued, "Have you ever gotten them up early enough and taken them to see the sunrise and say, 'See, this is a sunrise'?" Ripken said, "Well, I guess I haven't done that." Then came the response: "Neither do we talk about persecution over here. It's just as natural as the rising of the sun. It just always happens."²

What a perspective shift! For these seasoned believers, persecution wasn't an anomaly to be documented - it was as expected and natural as the sunrise. They didn't need to make a big deal about it because it was simply part of following Christ.

Friend, we don't get the luxury of saying, "Well, I'm going to be a Christian when I feel like it, and I'm going to say what Jesus says about things when it's convenient for the culture around me." We show the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives by how we handle God's Word, even when - especially when - it's unpopular with the culture.

Paul's promise in 2 Timothy 3:12 isn't meant to discourage us; it's meant to prepare us. When persecution comes, we shouldn't be surprised or think something strange is happening. We should recognize it as confirmation that we're living godly in Christ Jesus.

Reflection Question: How can knowing that persecution is inevitable actually strengthen your faith rather than weaken it?

Father, prepare my heart to accept that persecution is part of the Christian life. Give me the courage to live godly in Christ Jesus, even knowing the opposition that will come. Help me see persecution not as a setback but as confirmation that I'm walking in Your will. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Adapted from "Believers Under Fire" (Matthew 5:10-12): https://www.joshfranklin.org/media/7p55s6j/8-believers-under-fire

¹ Barna Research Poll data as cited in David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You're Irrelevant and Extreme (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2016), in chapter 4 "The Tension We Feel and Why".

² Nik Ripken, The Insanity of God (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 161.