Day 10, On The Road To Pentecost: BE FAITHFUL

Revelation 2:8-11

The crushing weight of suffering, can destroy people of faith if they are not prepared for it.  The world we live in is harsh and brutal.  Man’s inhumanity to man is seen everywhere, and everywhere there is suffering and killing and destroying.  It is a most unsettling time in human history. It’s not new, mind you; just prevalent and in every neighborhood throughout the world.

The resurrected and now living Christ is aware of the situations throughout the world.  He is aware of your situation, and speaks His ever-familiar words to you, “Do not fear” (Rev. 2:10).  He spoke these words to the church in Smyrna, has spoken them all through history, and is speaking them today.  Life happens, and challenges of a thousand kinds happen in a world gone wrong.  The call of the living Christ in this world is “be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).  

We are not forgotten to Jesus.  He is with us, even in the darkest moments of life.  We are not abandoned even though our journey takes us through suffering and pain and death.  As Oswald Chambers says, we may be “uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God” (My Utmost for His Highest, Updated edition, April 29 reading).  The road ahead in this world is unseen.  We can’t see five minutes ahead.  Yet, we do not stumble along the way.  We put our hands into the hands of the resurrected Lord and move forward, “certain of God.” We may not know what God will do in our lives or our circumstances but we know that He is eternally faithful and in that certainty we seek to be “faithful until death.”  We are faithful to Jesus because we trust in His Word.  We trust, knowing that regardless of where the road leads, it will lead to a cosmic moment when the resurrected Lord will give us “the crown of life.”  

We beseech thee, Master, to be our helper and protector. Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly; raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly; restore the wanderers of thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the sick; comfort the fainthearted.  

                      (Clement of Rome, 1st Century)

“In the world you have tribulation, 

but take courage, I have overcome the world.”

                                                 -- Jesus, John 16:33 (NASB)