“But you, Timothy, certainly know what I teach, and how I live, and what my purpose in life is. You know my faith, my patience, my love, and my endurance. You know how much persecution and suffering I have endured. You know all about how I was persecuted in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra—but the Lord rescued me from all of it. Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.”
2 Timothy 3:10-13 NLT
The mark of a Christian is not earthly blessings. It is God’s peace rising above a constant onslaught of suffering. Certainly this is the life that Jesus lived into his death and ultimately his resurrection. It will be the life that his true followers will face as well. Because it is a difficult life, it is easy to convince people that God wants the opposite for us. These false teachers frame God’s blessings by earthly and demonic desires. They frame God’s blessings as whatever seems good to the flesh and the eyes and whatever cultivated man’s pride of life. But these were the temptations that Jesus faced and denied. As ministers, we too must face and deny them. God’s blessings are not outward in, they are internally driven with outward ramifications. His blessings grow fruit that rises out of the ground to provide nourishment and shade for all around it. In ministry, our standard must be Christ. We must teach him and his attitudes, otherwise many will succumbed to a grave message.
JOSH McGARY. COM 