Are You Ready?

Per the August 11, 2012 edition of World Magazine (page 6), a Christian medical doctor in Aleppo, Syria was planning trips for his team to Moldova and Turkey. He was asked how they could leave in the midst of instability and fighting. He said, "We don't combine the crisis in our country with our missions. We combine it with our zeal and burden of the Lord and expansion of His Kingdom." What he meant was that the call of God is the most important consideration. When God calls, we go, no matter what's going on.

If we don't go, we let evil win. We think of all the what if's, and evil is winning. This is what is meant in 1 Corinthians 13:5, "Thinketh no evil" (KJV), or, "Does not take into account a wrong" (NASB). We're not to take evil into consideration when making decisions.

Persecuted Christians in Asia do not pray for regime change. They just reckon with the fact that that's the environment that they're in, and they simply get on with God's business. In Proverbs, it's the sluggard (lazy person) who worries about "lions in the street."

Many a missionary has to consider whether or not they'll take their children into dangerous areas. I know of a missionary family (with five chilren) who serve in South Sudan. Our day of death is set. Persecution does not change that day. Don't let evil win. Serve God regardless of the danger.