God of the Righteousness Part 2!

“No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:8 NLT

Yesterday, we discussed how God can be the Ultimate Judge in perspective of the creation. We also know that He can be a compassionate God. however, the hardest thing to accept probably is that believers in Jesus Christ are to persevere in any form of persecution. If God is gracious and can be the Ultimate Judge, then why He allows persecution to come among believers? I do not mind that if I have to persevere persecution of loneliness. I think I would be too frightened that if I have to persevere persecution of death or severe suffering. I believe that I would be tempted to deny Jesus so much.

Believers in Jesus Christ have been persecuted since He had left the earth. Apostle Paul was one of the persecutors of them before he was converted to be a follower of Christ (Acts 9:1-19). He probably knew there were going to be persecution of believers around the world but He persevered. In the chapter three of Philippians, we notice that He longed to have eternal life and he persuaded fellow believers to set their eyes in Jesus Christ. One of my favourite Bible verses that were written by Paul is 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. These verses tell us to always be confident in the Lord, live by faith, and make every opportunity to please Him.

To please God other than serving Him is not to deny Jesus as the Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ is the Son of God but He has the perfect image of God. They are so alike, so Jesus told his disciples that He is like mirror to God (John 14:1-11). God has wanted restore the relationship between Himself and humans, so He had to send Christ into the world, to be crucified on the cross for our sins (Hebrews 2:14-15). Other than physical sins that people may committed, I believe the main point of Christ’s crucifixion was to remove their disobedience from Him (John 16:8-11). Hence, Jesus became the bridge of God (John 14:6-7) and God has given eternal life to those who is willing to believe in Him. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Jude, one of the servants of Jesus Christ has spoken believers in Christ to persevere every kind of persecution. He said, “… dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” He also warned them to be careful of falling into the temptation of denying Christ (Jude 1:17-23).

Meditate on James 1:2-8. Let us also pray for every form of persecution there is in the world. Prayer helps us to strengthen ourselves through faith in Jesus Christ and know how to persevere it. Philippians 4:4-7 is probably good meditation about prayer.