Wow!

I know I have not blogged in a while. Between have three at home, church, coaching soccer and many other little things that arise in life I have not really thought about it. Then today I was thinking about it and our worship leader at the church told me I needed to update my blog, so here it is.

Actually, what I was thinking about writing about is music. I am not a musician, though I do like to sing. I have been preaching a sermon series on the "Sermon on the Mount" and this week I finish the Beatitudes. The last one Jesus puts out there is that those who persecuted for being righteous are blessed and theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. So how does that relate to music?

Today, our worship leader, Angela, and I sit down to map put the service and we usually work on using songs that relate to the sermon being preached to reinforce the theme. Well, how many songs do you know of that talk about the joy of being persecuted? We do mostly traditional service out of the 1991 Baptist Hymnal and there is not a section in the subject index on persecution. I tried to rack my brain about contemporary worship songs that talk about being persecuted and came up with none.

Scripture is full of references to the idea of persecution and it is never a question of if we go through it but when we go through it.

Paul tells Timothy..."Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:12 NASB)

We are told in James 1:2-4 that if we want to be full and complete lacking nothing then we are to have joy when face trails. "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (James 1:2-4 NASB)

Jesus tells us that we are to take courage when the world hates us because it hated him. "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master ' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But al these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me." (John 15:18-21 NASB)

So, if anyone is a songwriter I challenge you to stay faithful to God's word and write a song that speaks of persecution in a biblical light.