Hebrews 10:32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering.

Many things about this letter indicate that the people to whom this was written were experiencing a lull in the persecution they had encountered when they first proclaimed Jesus as Lord. That is something to be grateful for, but it can also be spiritually dangerous. I am reminded of the remarks to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22, where the believers had become self-satisfied and complacent. That is definitely dangerous territory! Sadly, much the same thing can be said about Christians in many “advanced” countries today. At the same time believers are being mowed down weekly in Nigeria, some Christians are worried about whether they can get a good parking spot so they won’t have to walk too far to enter their beautiful, air-conditioned church building. We are to be grateful for material blessings, but our focus must be on Christ and the eternal truths of the Gospel. Too many Christians have never experienced any hardship for their faith, and so take it lightly. At least the people to whom this was written had experienced persecution initially, so they could be told to remember it! I am reminded of the response of a pastor in South Sudan who, when told by an aid worker that Christians in America were praying for him and his flock, responded that his church was praying for believers in America, who were in the spiritually risky position of having it too easy!

From time to time I worry about whether I am sufficiently true to my Lord, since I don’t feel like I have suffered much for my faith. That too is self-centered! I need to focus on my Lord and seek to share the Gospel with as many as will receive it. I have a history of drawing back from sharing out of a fear of offending, but I need to fear that person’s eternal damnation more than I fear their rejection of me. I’m not to be needlessly offensive, and I frankly don’t have the wisdom to walk that line on my own, but I need to have my goals, my values, firmly fixed in the kingdom of God and His righteousness, rather than in how people make me feel. Some people think I’m holy for being a missionary, but this is where I was born and raised! Living in Japan is no sacrifice for me by any measure. The difficult thing for me is fearing people will consider me a “crazy foreigner,” when this is my home. I need to remember that heaven is my home, not Japan! I don’t know what my remaining years will hold, but I am to yield every detail to my Lord, because He is more than worthy of my total devotion.

Father, keep be from being a complacent Christian! Help me keep pressing in for more of Christ, to be more available and useful to You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!