Description
Enduring with Faith: Reflecting on Matthew 10:22
In this episode, we reflect on one of Jesus’s challenging teachings fr… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
Some of the things that Jesus said are quite hard to stomach, aren’t they? Today’s meditation is one of those. It’s Matthew chapter 10, verse 22. "And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved."
I don’t know about you, but I’m not really a fan of enduring. Sometimes life has been so hard that it’s felt like a real test of endurance. And I haven’t enjoyed those parts.
And Jesus says to his disciples, this is what you’re going to go through. This is in the context of him sending out the Twelve to proclaim his name. And many of the Twelve are going to be martyred. They are going to be abused. They are going to be persecuted in all sorts of different ways. And Jesus says, guys, this is what’s coming.
He’s preparing them, isn’t he? He’s preparing them for the hate that they’re going to receive as a consequence of saying that Jesus is the only way.
We know we will be saved when we repent and call on Jesus’s name. And with that repentance comes this walk that sometimes is a walk of endurance.
Discipleship isn’t always easy. And if someone’s told you it’s easy, they’re selling you a different kind of gospel. Yes, we’d like to be able to do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it, to be wealthy and happy and secure, but life as a disciple, life for any human, isn’t always like that.
So we must take comfort in what Jesus says to us, his disciples. Through that endurance, through those difficult times, we reach for the joy, we reach for the hope that’s coming to us, when in the end we are saved.
Lord God, we call out to you for help in these times of testing and endurance. We will cling to your name, though we may be hated for that. And we thank you for this promise that we are saved as we rest in Jesus’ name. Amen.
