Persecutions

Since the theme of this board is Jesus Freaks, I thought I'd start out there.

What's a Jesus Freak, you might ask? Well, we all know what a freak is, right? It's what you DON'T want to be. It means to be different, to be a target for ridicule and persecution.

As I was posting my hello thought in "Joe's Corner" a minute ago, I got looking at that chapter of 2 Timothy 3. You know Paul said in the same chapter (Verse 12):

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

My question to you: When have you been persecuted?

Persecution isn't necessarily being thrown to lions and tigers like the poor folks at the top of the page.

You don't have to be lunch meat to be persecuted. You might even be persecuted in your very own church. It happens at school all the time: somebody puts you down, ignores you, makes you a smaller person, just because you don't fit in. Family members can do it. We can be yelled at, shoved, pushed to the side, or even abused physically and emotionally.

How has somebody persecuted you? How are you handling it?

I don't remeber ever being persecuted, but then again I have a long life ahead of me. But I do remember a couple friends of mine who were. One was a kid who knew every book of the bible by heart. He could tell you them forwards, backwards, and all mixed up. He also knew the content of half the bible. I mean some books he could recite the entire thing! It was cool to me but others didn't think so. I remember them calling him names, saying how he just wasted his time on it. Others just said nerd. Another friend was persecuted, but not for christianity. He believed in ape gods. And no amount of talking was going to change his mind. I tried many times to show the error of his ways, yet to no avail. The amazing thing about these kids, they were less than 10 years old! A lot of faith for young kids.

Wow, they're sure young-uns. Just goes to show you it can happen at any age. Fact remains, if you're really living it, at some point somebody's going to 'persecute' you. It's what we do with it at that point that makes a difference.