Matthew 13:5-6
Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up because they did not have enough roots.
Matthew 13:20-21
20 The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. 21 But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard, or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.
Pressure and persecution, these are two words that many Christians today don’t like to hear. The truth of the matter is that they are part and parcel of our Christian growth. Jesus, the example we follow went through immense pressure and persecution.
Rarely will you find sermons on the pressure and persecution we will have to go through as followers of Christ. Instead, the bulk of the sermons you will hear today have to do with how God will bless you with this and that, how you can claim this and that, and every so often it seems like if you are going through some sort of persecution then something is wrong with you or your faith is weak. I have even heard preachers who preach that as followers of Christ we should not go through any kind of pain lack or persecution because Jesus paid it all, and He said it is finished!
Hearing the word and getting excited about it is not enough. You have to be able to live it out in the midst of pressure and persecution. Like Daniel and the three Hebrew boys, you have to stand on that word even when it threatens your very life. Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Like Job, you have to stand on that word even when you lose everything.
This one thing is for sure, persecution and pressure will come. Jesus says in John 15:20 that if they persecuted Him, they will persecute you and me as well. The question is: Are your roots in God deep enough to keep you upright and stable in the midst of persecution?
It’s easy to sing and shout on Sunday in the church service where everybody is holding a bible, but what about during the week when you and I are pressured to do that which is against the word of God, will we still sing and shout and stand on His word?
Reflections
What kind of pressure or persecution have you had to endure because of the word?
Did you stand your ground in faith, or did you fall?
What must you do to ensure that you have roots in God’s word?
