Are you being persecuted?
Can you be sure that your labor is not without fruit in the Lord (1Cor 15:58).
• Pro 14:34 -> “Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin is a shame to any people.”.
Many times, we think that the sin is something picayune. We think like Israel’s people:
• Zep 1:12 -> “And it shall be in that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled on their lees; *who say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, nor will He do evil* .”.
• Mal 2:17 -> “You have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet you say, In what have we wearied Him? When you say, Every evildoer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He delights in them; or, Where is the God of justice?”.
• Mal 3:13-15 -> “Your words have been strong against Me, says Jehovah. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You? You have said, It is vain to serve God; and, What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked as mourners before Jehovah of Hosts? And now we are calling the arrogant blessed. Not only are the doers of wickedness built up, they also test God, and escape.”.
Nevertheless, see some aftermaths of the sin:
• Psa 107:33,34 -> “He maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into dry ground; a fruitful land into a plain of salt, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”
• Isa 33:24 -> “And an inhabitant, the people who live in it shall not say, I am sick; iniquity is taken away.”.
On counterpart, see what happens when someone abide by the Creator’s commandment:
• Deu 4:6-8 -> “And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For who is a great nation whose God is coming near to them, as Jehovah our God is, in all our calling on Him? And who is a great nation whose statutes and judgments are so righteous as all this Law which I set before you today?
If the Creator, apparently, delays in carrying out His judgment, it is because He desire that everyone can come to repentance (2Pe 3:9).
Furthermore:
• Rom 9:22,23 -> “What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to glory;”.
So, if you are suffer according to the will of God, rejoice according as you are partakers of Christ's suffering and commit their souls in well-doing, as to a faithful Creator, so that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy (1Pe 4:13,19).
Can you be sure that your labor is not without fruit in the Lord (1Cor 15:58).
• Pro 14:34 -> “Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin is a shame to any people.”.
Many times, we think that the sin is something picayune. We think like Israel’s people:
• Zep 1:12 -> “And it shall be in that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled on their lees; *who say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, nor will He do evil* .”.
• Mal 2:17 -> “You have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet you say, In what have we wearied Him? When you say, Every evildoer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He delights in them; or, Where is the God of justice?”.
• Mal 3:13-15 -> “Your words have been strong against Me, says Jehovah. Yet you say, What have we spoken against You? You have said, It is vain to serve God; and, What profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked as mourners before Jehovah of Hosts? And now we are calling the arrogant blessed. Not only are the doers of wickedness built up, they also test God, and escape.”.
Nevertheless, see some aftermaths of the sin:
• Psa 107:33,34 -> “He maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into dry ground; a fruitful land into a plain of salt, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”
• Isa 33:24 -> “And an inhabitant, the people who live in it shall not say, I am sick; iniquity is taken away.”.
On counterpart, see what happens when someone abide by the Creator’s commandment:
• Deu 4:6-8 -> “And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For who is a great nation whose God is coming near to them, as Jehovah our God is, in all our calling on Him? And who is a great nation whose statutes and judgments are so righteous as all this Law which I set before you today?
If the Creator, apparently, delays in carrying out His judgment, it is because He desire that everyone can come to repentance (2Pe 3:9).
Furthermore:
• Rom 9:22,23 -> “What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to glory;”.
So, if you are suffer according to the will of God, rejoice according as you are partakers of Christ's suffering and commit their souls in well-doing, as to a faithful Creator, so that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy (1Pe 4:13,19).