Suffering as a Christian

1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

Suffering as a Christian.

In our world today there are MANY Christian's suffering in ways we don't want to imagine. Each week we read more and more how Christians are being persecuted. Even in our own country- the US. People try to claim that we have freedom of religion here and then in the next breath tell us we are not allowed to pray, that we are not allowed to say Jesus' name, that we have to keep our religion private and not allow others to witness it.

Christianity isn't contagious- no religion is. We can view all religions and in the US we are supposed to be able to do that, yet persecution persists. They say if we take ALL religion out of our secular lives then it's fair, and yet they hold their own unbelief as their religious view.

Atheists want the right to be free of ALL religious connotations in their life and yet that very stance screams religious repression. To have the freedom to worship, to live your choice of religion you have to be allowed to do so as it dictates to you. If your religion tells you that you must pray before you eat a meal- then NO ONE should be allowed to stop you- You are hurting NO ONE. The people in your vicinity can close their eyes, they can turn away from you, they even have the freedom to denounce what you've done but they aren't allowed to stop you.

Suffer as a Christian.

Yes, those who choose to follow Christ as He desires them to follow will face trials- it's impossible for them not too because living the life of a Christ follower calls for us to be opposed to the world around us. We are opposed to the teachings of this world, we are opposed to living for this world, we are against the evil that fills this world - controlling it in so many ways.

Suffering as a Christian.

Yes, we are to suffer as being a Christian- but we are NOT to be murderers, thieves, evildoers, busybodies in the business of other people. People have made their living off these very things, and we applaud a lot of them- we do.

To be different from the world is to set yourself up as a target for the world to abuse and we are to understand that our suffering is expected and yes, even welcomed because if we simply conform to the world so we do not stand out as Christians we are denying our Lord, our Savior, our amazing God.

1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

We are NOT to be ashamed.
We are to GLORIFY GOD on His behalf.

In our suffering we are to glorify God.

Can we do this? Only by the grace of our LORD.

In HIS LOVE!