“Five
times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three
times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked;
a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from
rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger
in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false
brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and
thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27, ESV).
Paul
is telling the Corinthian church some of the things he suffered in the course
of proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. What is somewhat amazing to me
is that he kept preaching.
And
yet, I shouldn’t be amazed. I should, instead, be saddened at my own
willingness (or rather, unwillingness) to speak of Christ. I should be saying
with the Apostle John, “Little children, you are from God and have overcome
them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John
4:4, ESV). Or I should be thinking of the prophet Jeremiah, “If I say, ‘I will
not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it
were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and
I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:9, ESV). Most importantly, I should be following the
command of Jesus, “’Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV).
Paul
had the right attitude. “For to me to live is Christ, and to
die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21). In life, we are to serve Christ. In death, we
gain all. As Christians, we are secure in the hands of God. Therefore, the
worst the world can do to us is kill us. The world cannot take away our
salvation or our place in heaven. If you think about it, perhaps the best the
world can do to us is to kill us, for that only speeds us on our way to glory.
God forgive us when we keep our
mouths closed.
