Hey, I Didn't Sign Up For This!

Recently, in an adult Sunday School class, we were studying John 15:18-20. Jesus told his disciples, “If they persecute me, they will persecute you also.” One of the more astute students in the class joked, “Hey, I did not sign up for this.”

Today’s reading is Acts 4:23-31, known as The Believers’ Prayer. Peter and John had just been threatened by the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council) for preaching the Gospel. Peter and John might have thought, “Hey, I did not sign up for this.”

The disciples’ response, however, was to pray, asking God to, “consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” They were then filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to preach the Gospel..

The Church has been under attack for 2000 years. Jesus was crucified. Stephan was stoned.  St. Paul was chased out of many cities and spent time in several jails for preaching Christ.

The walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome record the names of early Christian martyrs murdered in Nero’s Circus. Tens of thousands more have died throughout the years because of their faith.

The Church continues to be under attack today. Christians are ridiculed in the media. Christian values are flagrantly shuffled aside by politicians. The workplace can be hostile to people who practice their Christian principles. In Egypt, Christians are being killed for their faith. In Iran and North Korea, American Christians are in jail for preaching the Gospel.

I did not sign up for this.

Paul tells the Ephesians that God chose us, “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Fortunately, God also gives us the tools to do the job and the tools of defense. Later in Ephesians, St. Paul encourages us to “put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s scheme.”  The Holy Spirit provided the disciples, and provides us, with that armor.

God chose us. God gave us an assignment. Because of the devil, fulfilling that assignment can be challenging. Yet, through the Holy Spirit, God gives us everything we need.

Thankfully, God signed me up!