Call and Challenge

September 27, 2022

I was in the Middle East for ten days this month. I have been there numerous times, and every time I come away challenged and convicted. The temperature there is very different. I’m not speaking of the climate—I’m talking about the temperature of the Christian community. The Jesus followers there are far from casual about their privilege and responsibility. They have deep and consistent passion to reach people for Jesus. They not only have the passion for it, but they also persevere against great difficulties and obstacles to see it happen.

Let me tell you about just one of them. One of the leaders in the Middle East is an impressive young husband and father. He is married to an outstanding woman with many capabilities of her own. He left a professional and prestigious job to become a pastor. He left a life of comfort and convenience for a life that is very challenging and difficult. He is driven by a passion for Christ and a passion for his people to know the difference Christ can make. He has planted churches and been a key factor in changed lives and families. He has developed and put strategies into place that are rescuing refugees by clothing them, feeding them, and helping families who have been displaced.

He is not only an effective pastor, discipling and caring for families and individuals and multiplying leaders, he is also a church planter. His hard work and devotion have resulted in several new churches shining the light of Jesus into the darkness of the Middle East. His work and witness is so profound that it has attracted the attention of officials. They are opposed to the spread of Christianity, so the attention is harassment and persecution for him and his family.

Yet they do not quit. They do not quit. Would Jesus still love them if they did? That’s not even the question. Of course He would. But THEIR LOVE is the reason. They love Jesus and the world for which He died with such intensity that they see their problems and persecution in the same light as Jesus did. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that “for the joy set before him he endured the cross.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 is Paul’s record of his response to the persecution and hardship he suffered for the gospel, the Good News: “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

Here, we are so easily dissuaded from full-hearted devotion. If we have a slight headache, we call off from our duties. We have a hard time inviting people to bridge-building events at church because it makes us feel awkward or we don’t want to be responsible for them getting there and having a good time. Anything that would seriously cause us a hardship is to be avoided at all costs. We don’t handle inconvenience well. Persecution is out of the question. It might take us under.

But the fact is, Jesus never calls you to that which is easy. If your life isn’t challenging, it is probably a sure sign that you are a believer but not a follower of Jesus.

The only time the word easy is used in Scripture is when Jesus said, “Take my yoke, for it is easy.”