But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. (Hebrews 11:35-40)And we whine when someone makes fun Christians on TV.
The people of God have always suffered for being so. In America, we are coming to a point where it might be our turn. We are still a Christian nation, with 85% of Americans proclaiming faith in God. But there is a strong undercurrent trying desperately to turn that.
If it does, and we join the list of nations who were Christian but are now not, and if when that happens, we become persecuted God will still love us.
Our living in religious ease is not a sign of the favor of God. His grace is that sign.
These people went through a lot of pain and suffering serving God anyway.
But they knew that there was something better for them. This world was not the end, it was not the greatest thing. All this world amounts to is a proving round, a preparation time, getting us ready for heaven. It is not and can never be heaven itself.
When we suffer for God, we join the ranks of the greatest people who ever lived, people who showed that they were real God-followers by their lives and by their faith.
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