For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. 1 Thes 2:1-2 NASB
The American Dream and western Christianity have become so intertwined that sometimes it’s hard to know where one ends and the other begins. But, then passages like this one slap me in the face.
When I feel like I have followed the Lord in obedience but things start to go “wrong,” I immediately begin to question whether or not I heard right in the first place. Did I take the wrong turn? Was I really obedient? Why are things going so badly?!
Foundationally, I know that when I am being obedient, there is opposition. But, somehow in the fleshing out of daily life I expect everything to run like clockwork. Not Paul. Paul knew exactly what was going on and knew exactly how to persevere through it.
More and more I am challenged to put aside my western mentality and step into the truth of Scripture. The truth that opposition and hardship will come when I am obedient. The truth that this world is not my home nor does it love the things I love. It does not honor the One I long to honor. Therefore, when I am obedient, hard times are bound to come.
May I be able to say, like Paul, that when opposition and hardship arise, my boldness only increases.
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