About 50 years before Constantine the Great became Emperor of the Roman Empire and subsequently made Christianity the state religion, Christians were under heavy persecution. In 257 AD the emperor Valerian published his first decree against Christians, prohibiting them from meeting together. Pope Sixtus was seized and beheaded while serving communion in the Catacombs. He had only been pope for about one year. Additionally, four of his deacons were also murdered. Four days later St. Lawrence was murdered.
Today, every five minutes a Christian is martyred for their faith. According to Christian Freedom International, more than 200 million followers around the world currently face persecution in 105 of the world’s 196 countries. The predominant areas extend across northern and western Africa, the Middle East, throughout Asia and down into Indonesia. Christians are now the most persecuted faith group on the planet.
Yet we remain the most generous. 75% of those individuals attending church contribute to churches and charities to the tune of about $775.00 per year. Even with recent economic challenges, our giving remained stable while charitable (secular) donations to America’s 400 biggest charities dropped 11%. If you pay attention to the trends, you can see that even here in America there is a very different climate than when this country was founded. The trend has begun and is well underway for believers worldwide to begin to relate to the Church of Smyrna in Revelation 2:8 – 11. Quite a sobering thought, right?
With that thought in mind, I want to revisit a subject we have discussed in the past: “An attitude of gratitude.” I know that at times the hectic lives we lead and the constant pressures we face seem relentless. Statistics show that in the majority of developed countries, including the U. S., between 60 – 80% of your generation will not earn what my generation earned. That’s sad, unnerving and a significant blow to the desire I have embraced of making your lives better than mine. However, there is an answer to help you prosper, in the truest sense of the word, regardless of which generation you belong to.
In Malachi 3:10 – 12 and Luke 6:38 God very clearly promises you, not just the Children of Israel, that if you give and invest in His Kingdom He will bless you. In both scriptures the message is the same – I will return what you have given and then give you more. That is what we call today, a significant return on our investment (ROI). Yet we get distracted with flat tires, electric bills, new clothes for the kid’s school year and the ever increasing cost of education, to mention a few.
Throughout this year I have often talked about short-term verses long-term decisions. Frankly, investing in the Kingdom is fundamentally the same thought process. God cannot lie. He has told each of you the truth – He will bless you if your mind is on the eternal rather than the temporal. Keep 2 Corinthians 4:18 in mind: So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. Loving God and having an attitude of gratitude will last, stuff won’t. Think about giving as much as possible away so He can provide you with more to give away! We have so much more than many in the 10 – 40 window. Be thankful. Pray for them. Give to them and watch God bless your gratitude, answer your prayers and prosper you before your very eyes.
Love Dad