We Cannot Be Robbed of Our MIGHTY GOD
"Persecuted, but not forsaken." -II Corinthians 4:9 [KJV]
Whatever
injury persecutors may do or attempt to do to a Christian, they cannot
rob him of his God. They may destroy his body; they cannot destroy his
soul. They may wound his reputation; but they cannot wound his
conscience. They may strip him of all his earthly goods; but they cannot
lay their unhallowed hands upon the treasure which God has lodged in
his breast. Yea, all may forsake him as they forsook his divine Master;
but God has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
Why, then, need we dread persecution for righteousness' sake? If the Lord be on our side, whom need we fear? (See Psalm 27:1.) And who can harm us if we be followers of that which is good? But bear in mind that it must be persecution for righteousness' sake. Do not call it persecution if you are buffeted for your faults. Do not think yourselves persecuted if by your inconsistencies you have brought upon yourselves the reproach of men, or the just censure of those who fear God.
But if your persecutions are
brought upon you from doing the will of God from the heart, you will
find the approbation of God in your conscience; nay, you will find that
your very persecutions will draw down more into your soul a blessed
sense of the sympathy of your great High Priest, so that as your
afflictions abound, so will your consolation.
Sad indeed it would
be for the Church of God, if, amidst her persecutions, the Lord added
to the weight of her trouble by withdrawing from her the light of His
countenance and the consolations of His sensible presence. But she never
more sensibly reclines on His bosom than when He gives her to drink of His cup, and thus conforms her to His suffering image.
-preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
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