Daily Devotions

When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. Matthew 10:23-30

“Remember who you are, and what you represent.” Those were the inevitable words part of many of the Friday night speeches given by the director of the Bible camp where I worked in college. Saturday was our one day off per week thus we heard those words before being unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. The camp staff were to be roving ambassadors of the values of our Bible camp. The value system of Jesus in real life.

Then the “worldly” in us kicked into gear. The other value system. The one we have breathed in the air around us since birth. “It’s all about you so do your own thing.” “Perception is reality.” “Go along to get along.” “Keep your head down.” “You are the sum of your achievements.” “If you do it, don’t get caught.” “If nobody knows, it didn’t happen.” “If you get caught, don’t confess.” “Gaming the system IS the game of the system.”

It is clear that doing the “Jesus thing” in life will not be without opposition or persecution. It will always be challenging to us as it will always be challenging to the value system of the world. That’s a given. But do we have the eyes to see?

I read a great article the other day about the Christianity of Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick. My sense is that the wider public has long associated Tim Tebow with the Christian faith but few, if any, have tied Kaepernick’s public protest against racial injustice to him acting out of his own sense of following Jesus.

There is no question that Kaepernick has been paying a dear price for his actions. His name will ever be linked to sports figures like Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Click on that link to be reminded of that story and you will be surprised anew to remember that the third man on that podium was Peter Norman of Australia. He, like both Smith and Carlos, was wearing a badge of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Norman was particularly opposed to the White Australia movement in his own country.

That all happened in 1968. 46 years ago. Don’t we still have a long way to go?

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, inspire us anew to be in the world in a way that points beyond ourselves to you – to your own sense of what brokenness means and what wholeness needs. Bless those willing to suffer for those who suffer, to speak for those with no voice, to stand with those unable to stand on their own. Remind us that you are with us, that you know us down to each strand of our hair. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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