Persecuted, Yet Peaceful
MAY 1, 2023

If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Luke 9:23

Recommended Reading: John 16:31-33
One of Jesus’ strongest admonitions to those who would be His disciples came when He told them to take up their cross daily (Luke 9:23). In the Roman world, the cross was a symbol of death. Jesus’ words were a warning: following Him might result in death.

Not until the night of Jesus’ arrest, when He was alone with His disciples for the Passover meal, did Jesus expand on His earlier words and provide them with comfort (John 14–16). He told them that the world would hate them when He was gone because they hated Him first. If they persecuted Him, they would persecute them (John 15:18-21). But He also told them, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). His peace—that is, the peace that comes from knowing and trusting Him (Philippians 4:6-7)—would be their peace in a world that would reject them.

We don’t know exactly what the future holds for Christians. But we know who does know. We can trust Him to keep us “until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Peace rules the day when Christ rules the mind.
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