July 26, 2022

Passage Read: Mark 13-14
Meditation Verses: 13:12-13

Thought

Blood relatives are not the safest people to be around, but only those who truly believe in Christ. When persecution begins there will be pressure on all people to betray Christians. There will be false believers who care more for their own lives than for their fellow Christians, and they will betray them to those seeking their lives. Family members, perhaps even also appearing to be believers, perhaps not, will also betray their own flesh and blood in order to save their own lives. When this time of persecution comes, it will be hard to trust anyone. Scripture even warns that there one who betrays could even be a man's own wife.

Application

That doesn't mean I need to be afraid of everyone. That would be true only if I was intent on saving my life! But if I'm more concerned about Christ and His Truth, and love and trust Him more than anything else, then this is nothing to be afraid of, but something to be aware of. Indeed, the more faithful I am to Christ, the more obvious it will be who hates me and is likely to betray me, especially among churchgoers and family members. Whoever cannot stand the truth from Scripture will surely be ready to betray those who do love Scripture. Strangers won't know me well, but those who fellowship with me will know who I am and what I stand for. And those "Believers" who don't like the plain teaching of Scripture will most likely be the ones to betray me. That shouldn't surprise me at all, and shouldn't cause me to fear and turn away from the Truth. I need to hold fast to what is true and faithfully teach and live it, to the end of my life or the end of days, whichever comes first.