The hardest form of persecution

As Christians, we should expect persecution to come to us from any side, at any time as our faith is a radical repudiation of the world's standards.

I think, though, that the hardest persecution comes from within. It is those moments of doubt. Those times of realization that I am so far from being the Christian that I want to be or think of myself as being that the pain runs the deepest because it lingers the longest.

I wish I could point you to a Bible verse, snap my fingers, and say "go away", but that is a power God has not given to me or the Scripture. Perhaps because this is the reminder that I am not only not God, but that I am so far from being God.

The other day I got into a "pity" party with some friends about the state of the world. It is spiraling so far away from the Creation He made that it is hard to fathom...but then when was this world as God created?

The solution to this problem is to accept that one is a flawed individual. That one has great penchant for doing evil - as defined by God. That one cannot change one self but must relinquish the power to change over to God.

That is not a pretty sight. It is not an easy road. It leads to more purifying and testing and struggle. It is the hardest persecution, but it is also the best because we become just that much closer to God.