How authentic is our faith?
In a report from the Baptist Press last week, word of 4 Christian believers in North Korea being executed for their faith has reached us. Their crimes? Carrying New Testaments or talking about their beliefs.
North Korea is widely known to be unfriendly to religious freedom. In some ways, this story is not surprising. There are many places on this planet of ours that are this way… particularly toward Christians and Christianity. This isn’t to minimize the devastation of these lives being lost, merely to state facts.
The shock of this story, however, brings home a question that we’re all too often afraid to ask ourselves in the West. What about our lifestyles and our Christianity would change if we were to truly come under persecution here? I’m not talking about being laughed at on sitcoms or teased by skeptics. I’m talking about paying a real price — imprisonment or separation from loved ones or… even death.
Would we, like Peter, deny Him? Or would this set us up for a deeper choice? Would it, in fact, force us to clarify our values and re-evaluate what’s important to us? Would it motivate us to relate to God more frequently or in more authentic ways? Would it challenge our ability to truly trust in Him? Would it change how we train our children and what we teach them? Would it change how we do business? Would it make us sharper, wiser, stronger… perhaps even more effective?
This is worth thinking about. Perhaps it is also worth asking ourselves what might keep us from getting to this level of authenticity and reality right now.