Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus

SIBKL/Paul Estabrooks/13/10/12

The Scripture says that you are blessed when men persecute you, reject you, or exclude you. However, just like Indian curry, where you have mild, medium and hot, persecution can be just the same. People ask me if I get depressed hearing all these sad stories, but when we go to them, we are the ones getting encouraged. There is a saying that Christians are like nails – the harder you hit them, the deeper they go. In China, they say Christians are like bamboo – the faster you cut them down, the faster they grow back. In another country, they are described like rubber balls – the harder you throw them, the higher they bounce. Christians are also like flowers, the more you crush them, the more fragrant their smell. In India, they say Christians are like coffee, - you don’t know how strong they are until they get in hot water. There is much that we benefit from interacting with them.

The letter of Hebrews was written mainly to Jews who had become Christians, turning their back on their old religion, and thus having to endure severe persecution. Some of them were considering giving up and returning to Judaism because of the pressure. The writer of Hebrews wrote to convince them that Jesus is better than any other faith. As said in Hebrews 12:2, because Jesus if the greatest, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. That is the main message of Hebrews.

In Vietnam under the communist regime, there was a pastor who was blind. When authorities arrested him and beat him up, it was all the more difficult because he didn’t know from which directions the blows would come. Years later, the pastor was asked “how do you remain strong?” Incredibly, the blind man replied “I keep my eyes fixed on Jesus”. Hebrews 13:1 says “Keep on loving one another”. Jesus commanded that we should love one another and our joy will be full. Love is not something you do once or outwardly, but repeatedly.

Hebrews 13:2 says “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” What do we do when stranger come into our fellowship, are we kind to them like father Abraham?

North Korea tops the list for persecuted Christians. There was a Christian doctor named Dr.Park who built a hospital near the border, took the North Korean authorities to the hospital and told them he would build one just like that in North Korea. After raising as many funds as he could, he needed just USD 15000 more and time was running out. As he sat in his office, the nurse told him that there was a dirty looking gentlemen waiting to see him. He looked like he had slept in the streets. Dr.Park decided to see him, and to his surprise, the man said “I heard you have a problem”, and when Dr.Park said yes, he handed over an envelope and left. To his great surprise, Dr.Park found exactly USD15,000 in that envelope. Thinking back, he concluded that the dirty looking man had been an angel from God sent to meet his need.

Hebrews 13:3 says “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” None of us wants to go to prison. Yet in prison, a pastor led 95 people to Christ. Brothers and sisters have enough opportunity for witnessing inside as well as outside. What would be your concerns if you were in prison? You would want your family taken care of. You would want people to pray for you.

There is a little country east of Ethopia called Eritrea. The government declared all Protestant churches to be illegal. Orthodox and Catholic churches were allowed but if there was a Protestant gathering, the entire group would be arrested and interrogated until they found out who the leaders were and they were put in prison. Today, there are 2,000 Christians in prison in Eritrea. They could easily get out if they signed a paper saying they will stop going to church and following Jesus.

As they don’t have enough proper Christian cells, so many prisoners are kept in old shipping containers where there is no light and ventilation. Its hot during the day and cold during the night. There are hundreds of our brothers and sisters in these kinds of prisons. All they ask if that we pray for them. The most we can do is to pray for them.

One of them is a young lady, called Helen Berhane who produced a Christian music CD to encourage the young Christian people in her land. She was put in prison and led many people to faith there. In her book, she related how she was summoned to the prison office and questioned why she was preaching to the guards. She said “Jesus wants me to tell the guards too. I am not afraid of you. You can do all that you want to me, but you can never take my spirit”. She finally led so many people to faith in prison that they had to release her.

Iran is the nation with the fastest growing Christian population today, at a rate of 20% every year, but they have to meet in secret. Two Christian women were caught and put in prison where they were interrogated and tortured. They remained in prison for almost the whole year under brutal conditions. Christians all over the world wrote letters to them. They never received any, but they knew because the guards told them. Some of the guards who read the letters were even impacted by the Bible verses written therein.

Christians all over the world who are persecuted endure with courage because they fix their eyes on Jesus. And that is what we also must do.