The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people. – Exodus 11:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 30, 2012): Exodus 11

One concern that I have with the modern Christian movement is how far we are out of step with our culture. Somehow we almost wear it as a badge of honor when the culture persecutes us. It is as if our suffering is what makes us Christians. Jesus did say that we were blessed when we are persecuted because him, but what he did not say is that we have to be persecuted in order to be blessed.

One of the marks of the Christian community in the first century was the positive way that the secular community responded to them. The love that the church had for each other and the community was contagious. The idea that the church could somehow disappear would have been considered nothing short of a disaster. We have come to believe that the church was highly persecuted in the years following the resurrection of Jesus. But historians really do not tell the same tale. There were short periods of empire wide persecution, but outside of that the persecution was fairly localized. Even the persecution of Nero which claimed the lives of both Peter and Paul (and many other Christians) seems to have been limited to the area around Rome. Maybe part of the reason for the lack of a long, empire wide persecution was that it was really hard to persecute a people that had simply learned to love in every situation. When faced with love, hate seems to have a hard time maintaining itself. Sooner or later, the lies fade as love persists.

As the story of the Exodus continues, a surprising fact emerges. The fight that Moses finds himself in the middle of is really a family feud. The conflict seems to be restricted; the combatants were the Royal Family on one side and Moses on the other. And if we go back to the beginning of the story, it was the family that he had grown up (and spent the first forty years of his life) in. The Pharaoh would have been a boy that had grown up with Moses like a brother. But the hostility did not extend beyond the family. To most of the Egyptian people, Moses was highly regarded.

Yes, when we are persecuted for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, we are blessed. And sometimes that will happen. But it is not a situation that we need to chase down. And if we love, most persecution will ultimately fail. Love still wins.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 12