City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:10-12 (NASB)

Commentary

I took the picture you see here in 2014, when Cindy and I were in Lyon, France. It was in this amphitheater in  177 AD that a vicious persecution against Christians took place. It resulted in the martyrdom of many Christians, including a young woman named Blandina. Blandina refused to renounce Jesus when ordered to do so by Roman authorities. As a result, she was tortured and tied to a stake for wild animals to devour her. When they didn’t kill her, and she still refused to renounce Jesus, the authorities put her in a net and threw her to the bulls, where she finally met her death.

The sacrifice of Blandina and the other martyrs at Lyon marked the beginning of the rise of Christianity and the end of paganism in Gaul (now France). Tertullian said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the kingdom of God. Persecution purifies the Church. It separates those who truly love Jesus and trust Him from posers and the merely religious. Persecution is an x-ray for the soul. 

It is highly unlikely anyone reading this post will ever face martyrdom. Our choices are less dramatic, more numerous, but ultimately no less important. They manifest in decisions to speak rather than stay silent, to do what is right, and to forgive others. 

In 2011, Webb Simpson was leading a PGA tour event with only a few holes left in the final round. Simpson is Christian and was one of the top ranked professional golfers in the world at the time. As he addressed and prepared to stroke a short putt, the wind moved the ball. Only Simpson saw it. You couldn’t even see it on the replay. But Simpson called a one-stroke penalty on himself, which cost him the tournament and the $1 million in first place money. Simpson proved himself a Jesus-follower to millions of viewers by the cost he was willing to pay to do what was right.

In my first semester of law school, one of my professors, who was of a different religion, said something I thought was denigrating to Jesus and Christianity. I raised my hand and offered a rebuttal to the professor in front of the entire class. I outed myself in a very public fashion to 75 of my fellow students. After that, they knew I loved Jesus more than I feared being embarrassed.

Application

In a fallen world, doing the right thing is not always easy. It often comes with a price. It often means swimming against the current, doing what is unpopular, being the odd-man out. The right thing and the hard thing are often the same thing. But your willingness to endure viciousness for righteousness is a statement to the world about what is true and right and shows you are not merely a poser. “Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 [The NET Bible]).

Prayer

Lord, give me discernment to see the opportunities You bring for me to demonstrate my love for You to a world that does not know You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.