The eleventh day of Christmas (January 4th) remembers St. Simon Stylites and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. The former lived on a platform on top of a pillar for 37 years. The latter was the first American saint. We will focus on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who is known as the patron saint of those rejected or persecuted for their faith, as well as orphans, widows, and Catholic schools. Since Day 6 (Remember St. Egwin?) focused on the widows and orphans, we will focus on the persecuted today.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:32-40
Devotion:
With the exception of the seventh day of Christmas, I have followed the individuals traditionally associated with each day. I was delighted to discover that these patron saints and heroes of the Bible gave me ample opportunity to focus on the persecuted, widows & orphans, and martyrs, which are all subjects near and dear to my heart. Today's saint is no exception. A quick look at Scripture will clearly show God's heart for the poor, widows, orphans, and foreigners. It is good for us to align ourselves with God's heart and care for those He cares about.
Today's song is a traditional carol of Christmas. It has a lot of truth to unpack about Jesus and His attributes, but we will zero in on the end of verse three: "Born that man no more may die / Born to raise the sons of earth, / Born to give them second birth." Jesus came to give new life to those who accept it. Yet there are people who are dying for their faith. The World Watch List publishes a list each year of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith. Take time to look over the list and pray the prayer prompts. Better yet, commit to praying for a country each week for the next year. The new list will come out late January or early February.
Today's Scripture is at the tail end of Hebrews 11, the "faith hall of fame". For the first three and a half verses, things seem to be awesome. We have a summary of kingdom conquering, justice administering, promise gaining, lions' mouth shutting, sword escaping, army routing, and dead raising people of faith. But verse 35 marks a turning point. Some were tortured and didn't give in so they might gain a "better resurrection". Others were jeered, flogged, chained, and imprisoned. Some were stoned to death, sawed in two, or killed with a sword. They were destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. They were wanderers in deserts and mountains, as they lived in caves and holes. Wow. Who is ready to sign up for Christianity after such an encouraging note? Be a Christian, you could be tortured and flogged! Yet, this persecution is very real around the world. As we remember to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters, I encourage you to go beyond just praying for their safety. Pray like the disciples who were threatened and prayed for boldness to keep speaking (see Acts 4:29). React like apostles, who rejoiced after a flogging because they were worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus (see Acts 5:41). Remember that Jesus called those persecuted because of righteousness blessed and commanded them to "rejoice and be glad" when insulted, persecuted, and falsely spoken against because of Jesus (see Matthew 5:10-12).
Now for the tricky part. My dear brothers and sisters, the Church in the United States has not being following the biblical example of reacting to persecution. We are more concerned with defending our rights than with defending the oppressed. We are more focused on legislating our morality than sharing the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with a lost and hurting world. If the claims of the persecution of Christians in the US are true, then we should be reacting like the Early Church in Acts. We should be praying for our persecutors and blessing those who curse us.
We are expecting non-Christians to follow God's laws without God's transforming power at work in their lives. Even though we have God's transforming power at work in us and we still have difficulties living up to these standards and obeying God's laws. We are saved, we are sanctified, but until we get to heaven, we will be fighting against our earthly nature as we make the choice daily whether to follow God's will or the world's way to get things done. Every time we make a decision, we are choosing who we will follow.
Christians weren't commanded in Scripture to gather power so we wouldn't be persecuted; we were commanded to love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, and bless those who curse us. The world is busy shouting "Well, what about those who wrong me?" or "But they are acting poorly too (and probably worse than I am)" and Christians have mirrored the world's complaints instead of following God's commands about our enemies/persecutors. But we are at a crossroads. Will we continue to use the world's ways to sling mud and drag our opponents down, or we will offer a hand to help them up as we show compassion, mercy (not giving someone the punishment they deserve), and grace (giving someone the gift they could never deserve or earn)? Which will you choose?
Challenge:
Sit with this post for a while. Prayerfully consider the parts of this that offended you. Read the Scriptures referenced in today's devotional and compare it to the behavior of the Church in the US. Consider how we are told to react to those persecuting us and how we are to treat non-Christians who aren't following God's law.
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