We Are All His People

I have only briefly watched the news in the past few days because I haven't really been home. When I have been home, what I have seen is horrific. I am not going to sit here and pretend to know everything that's going on, nor will I pretend to know why we have re-entered Iraq. What I do know, is that right now while I sit here, at home, comfortable blogging about God's blessings in my life, someone in Israel is fighting for their life.

My sister and I were reading an article yesterday about the murders that are occurring over seas. I, of course believe that all murder is bad, but the victims of these murders are my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I don't know them, I can't begin to understand what they are going through, but I understand one thing, and that is the love for Christ that we believers share. The article that we read, described a sick report of the events occurring in the middle east.

The group ISIS has taken the lives of so many Christians. They have killed the Christian men, killed the Christian children and they have killed some of the women, and the rest of them get sold as sex slaves. Until we stumbled upon this one article, I had no idea what the big news was that everyone was talking about. I assumed it was just another random act of violence against more innocent people. For the most part, that is in fact true, but I never thought that I shared something with these people.

In the past I have learned about what it is like to be a Christian in other countries. I understand the basics of Christians having to hide in order to worship, and I've heard that some have been killed in the past. I'm sure that growing up there were many killed, but up until now, I never really watched the news or followed it.

I know that we all day that we are blessed and most of the time we believe it. I know that I am blessed by the things that I have in this life. However, the one constant in my life is my faith. No matter where I have been, whether that be physically or emotionally, my church and my brothers and sisters in Christ have sustained me. I have said before how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many believers. Every time we get together in fellowship, my fire for Christ grows more and more. The only thing I've ever really struggled with is fitting in, in a world that has grown farther and farther away from Christ (however, in reality we are supposed to stand out anyway).

Rather than the fear of judgment that I have, other Christians have their lives to fear. These families are being plucked apart one by one. They are being murdered and abused. They have a love for Christ but when they show that love, they are stepping on deaths door. The pain and the suffering that they go through is something that we cannot even begin to understand or feel, if we have never been in that situation.

However, when some of us feel pressured, we (yes sometimes me too) back away and stop proclaiming God's glory. Now most of us, if any, really feel guilty when we do that. I have gotten a lot better as I have gotten older. It doesn't take much bravery here to say that we are followers of Christ, yet we still struggle with it. In the middle east, Christians are not backing down and even when death is upon them they proclaim their belief in Christ.

As this week continues, I want you to pray. Pray with everything you've got, because even though we have never met these people here on earth, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and one day we will be joining them in heaven. I also want you to remember just how blessed we are. We have the ability to walk into a church Sunday morning and proclaim the name of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. So praise God and pray for His people because we are all His people.