May the God of love and peace be with you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a series of deals from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Song I Sing in the Darkness)
The Americans Who Don’t Want to Leave Afghanistan
“Every time President Biden or Press Secretary Jen Psaki talk about the American withdrawal from Afghanistan they refer to evacuating Americans ‘who want to leave Afghanistan.’ On the surface it seems like an odd description. Don’t all Americans want to leave Afghanistan? Who actually wants to stay in a place where the Taliban are figuring out what it looks like to rule again?” I think you probably know who wants to stay…
Reductionism: The Disease That Breeds Conflict
Pierce Taylor Hibbs writes about some contemporary conflicts and says, “beneath all that conflict, there’s a disease. It’s what we might call a mental disease: reductionism.”
Getty Music Sing! Conference
Here’s one last reminder that the Getty Sing! conference is continuing today both in-person and online. Those who tune in to the livestream will hear lots of great music, plus speaking from John Lennox, Trip Lee, Paul David Tripp, and others. Register here and use code VIRTUAL10 to save 10% on your registration.
How Do We Discern False Teachers?
John Piper: “Let me give you four biblical ways to assess whether someone is a false teacher. I do this just because the Bible agrees with you that we should be alert to the reality of false teachers, and it gives us tests.”
What Does It Mean to Weep with Those Who Weep?
Kevin DeYoung writes about what it does (and doesn’t) mean to weep with those who weep.
Uniquely Gifted: Overcoming Comparison
“Healthy competition can lead us to work harder and achieve more than we ever thought possible. However, competition’s ugly cousin, comparison, promises to help us achieve more but often leaves us in despair.”
After Death, Life
What hope we have! “There is one truth in the glorious panoply that is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) that is particularly special to me. One that stands out as a shining beacon on the darkest of days, one that daily speaks to my heart and revives me in the truth. And it, dear friends, is this: A man walked out of the back of death.”
Flashback: 5 Ways to Ruin a Perfectly Good Dating Relationship
…the wonder of marriage is that a messed up, sinful man actually can marry a messed up, sinful woman and somehow build a beautiful, life-long relationship that shines a spotlight on God and his gospel.

The church … is a hospital in which nobody is completely well, and anyone can relapse at any time. —J.I. Packer

The Christian faith is counterintuitive in any number of ways, but perhaps none so much as in its perspective on suffering and, particularly, its perspective on suffering persecution. We may see this most clearly in the actions of the apostles who, after being imprisoned and beaten, “left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (Acts 5:41).

Of course they must not have been surprised to suffer persecution because, as I’ve pointed out in a couple of recent articles, Jesus had told them to expect it and evaluate it. But he did more than that, and he does more than that to us. Jesus tells us to embrace persecution.
I thought of softening “embrace” to “endure.” It’s certainly true that we need to face persecution with patience and perseverance. But Jesus seems to calls us to even more than this. He says we should go so far as to embrace persecution. That’s not to say we should never pray for it to be lifted, or that we should never flee from it, or that we should never turn to the courts where we can appeal for justice, for these may all be good and honorable actions to take. But it does mean that as long as we face true persecution, we should rejoice in it. Jesus says “blessed (or happy) are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” He says even to “rejoice and be glad” in persecution. (Matthew 5:10-12).
Is this really possible? Is this really reasonable? It is! It is because we know that our God is sovereign and that nothing happens apart from his plan, which means that in some way our suffering is God’s will. It’s not a mistake. It’s not meaningless. It’s not nothing. It’s an opportunity to respond to God’s sovereignty with hope, with trust, and with godly character. It’s an opportunity to shine God’s light in the midst of darkness.
6 Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution
We need to consider: How is it possible to rejoice even during something as painful as persecution? Let me offer six reasons you can rejoice and be glad even when persecuted.
The first is this: persecution proves your citizenship. You are a follower of a Savior who was persecuted. Even though he lived a life that was perfect and unblemished, still the religious authorities, the civil authorities, and the common people all turned against him and put him to death. If that was his story, why wouldn’t it be yours? He told you it would be yours. He said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” We should expect to suffer like our Savior suffered. In that way persecution is proof of your citizenship in his kingdom, proof of your alignment with Jesus.
And then there’s this: persecution displays your faith. Passing through the test of persecution proves the validity and the strength of your faith. You’ll never know how strong your arms are until you have to lift something heavy, and you’ll never know what your faith is made of until it is put to the test. James says “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life” (James 1:12). Many fall away when their faith is tested; but those who truly love the Lord will persevere and emerge with their faith tested, proven, strengthened. They can rejoice!
Also, persecution shapes your character. In Romans 5 Paul says, “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4). It takes tremendous heat and pressure to form a diamond deep in the ground and it takes suffering and even persecution to form Christian character deep in your heart. Persecution is a means God uses to conform you to the image of Christ.
There is another reason: persecution equips you for service. Through persecution God is equipping you for deeper service to him. As he writes 2 Corinthians Paul has suffered deeply and this is what he says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction…” Why does God offer this comfort? He goes on, “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” He knows that in his suffering he has been comforted so that he can now extend that comfort to others. He has been made more useful to God’s purposes because of this persecution. And that’s true of you as well.
And then there’s a fifth reason: persecution produces communion. In your suffering you experience a deep fellowship with Christ because you are actually joining in his suffering. In the very next verse Paul says this: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:5). You are being persecuted because you are united to Christ. You are suffering in him and for him and with him. And God meets you in your sorrows, he draws close, and he ministers his comfort to you.
And then there’s still another reason you can rejoice in persecution: persecution provokes longing. It causes you to look forward, to elevate your gaze beyond this world. There is nothing that more clearly shows that this world is not your home than persecution. There is nothing that makes it more obvious that you don’t belong here. And so there is nothing more likely to shift your gaze from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of heaven. When everything in your life is great, when everyone around you loves and affirms you, it’s easy to say “this world isn’t so bad.” But when you are hated and mocked, you understand: These are not my people. This is not my place.
And if this isn’t, then what is? The kingdom of heaven. Persecution makes you exercise your faith to believe that the kingdom is real and the kingdom is coming and the kingdom is your true and final home. You rejoice that your heart is being uprooted from this kingdom and planted in the kingdom still to come. You rejoice and are glad in all that God has promised and will very soon fulfill.
For these six reasons and many more you can rejoice even when you are being persecuted. God gives you your suffering in trust that you will embrace it and honor him through it—that you will steward it well, that you will pass through it in such a way that you hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
We have just come through a time of suffering that extended across almost the entire globe. Through the pandemic some lost their jobs or had to battle troubling matters of conscience; many got ill or lost loved ones; many had friends or family members turn on them for their decision to accept or reject a vaccine; many were forced into isolation for extended periods of time; some went to prison. We all suffered. I have spoken to some Christians from around the world who are convinced there was an element of persecution in this suffering and to others who are convinced there was not. But whatever your conviction, I think this is worth asking: Did you pass through that time of suffering with joy in your heart? Can you say “in my suffering” or even “in my persecution (if that’s your conviction) I rejoiced and was glad, just like Jesus said?” In this suffering or any other you’ve gone through, can you say you imitated Jesus who: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly?” Or did your joy go into a tailspin? Did you suffer with bitterness, with grumbling, with complaining?
It sure seems likely that there will be more suffering and even persecution in the years ahead. How will you meet it? I know how God tells you to meet it—you are to meet any suffering with confident submission and even the fiercest persecution with rejoicing and gladness. God means for you to emerge from it with your faith not only intact, but strengthened, your joy not only present but amplified. He means for you to marvel like the apostles that “I have been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus.” And to rejoice.
Even in your worst suffering, even in your darkest valley, even in the most agonizing persecution, you can rejoice and be glad because God is with you, because God is accomplishing his purposes, because this light and momentary affliction—even if it leads all the way to death—is preparing you for an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond all comparison. And so expect to be persecuted; when it appears to have come, honestly evaluate your persecution; and if you are convinced this is, indeed, suffering for righteousness’ sake, then embrace your persecution as a means through which God is at work for the furthering of his kingdom, the good of his people, and the glory of his name. And rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer dishonor, or even death, for his sake.

You can tell a lot about people by the way they walk, can’t you? You can tell a lot about their physical health, their emotional state, and perhaps even their spiritual condition. You can often tell at a glance whether they are healthy or ill, joyful or sorrowful, delighting or despondent.
Consider a company of soldiers marching smartly together, their uniforms crisp and new, as together they march toward the field of battle. Their every step portrays competence and confidence. Consider that same company as they return weeks later, their numbers diminished, their uniforms battered, their feet shuffling rather than marching. It takes no great expertise to read their walk and understand their situation.
Or consider friends who pass through the doors of the church the week after suffering a grievous loss. Unknown to them, their sadness is expressed even in the way they walk, their grief manifested in their short strides, their hesitant steps, their bent backs. Their sorrow is displayed in their every step, their grief unintentionally visible to all around them.
Consider the walk of the bearer of good news versus the bearer of dreaded news, the groom versus the widower, the young woman versus the old, the the employee on his first day versus the employee on the day he learns his position has been terminated. Consider even the walk of the person who has determined to change sexuality or gender—a man now attempting to imitate the walk of a woman or a woman the stride of a man. In every case, the inner person is displayed in the outer person, the posture of the heart visible in the posture of the body.
You can tell a lot about people by the way they walk. And this is why it is so intuitive that the Bible offers admonitions like “Look carefully then how you walk” or “Let us walk properly.” Again, “I … urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” and “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” (Ephesians 5:15; Romans 13:13; Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10). The way we walk is a visible portrayal of who we are, of what we are like, and of who we claim to be.
The way we walk is a visible portrayal of who we are, of what we are like, and of who we claim to be.Share
The great challenge of the Christian life, then, is to match our walk to our talk, what we portray outwardly to what we claim inwardly. The two must be harmonious rather than discordant, they must display that we are being transformed to the image of Christ rather than conformed to the world around. To honor God, they must display our loyalty to him, our submission to him, and our dependence upon him. For our walk will either affirm or betray us, either confirm or contradict our profession, either display our consistency or our hypocrisy.
And so I ask: How are you walking? Because the way you walk tells an awful lot about you.