Was Trusting Christ Worth It?

“Me? Absolutely not. I did not set our great city on fire! I’m not an arsonist. I’m a builder – not a destroyer. I take as much pride in Rome as you do. I’m as crushed as you are over the destruction of our city. I am devastated by the loss of your homes and all our religious shrines. For some reason, our gods could not protect us from this devastation. I think it must have been a battle of the gods that caused Rome to burn. The Christians’ God was probably to blame for the urban inferno,” said Emperor Nero.

Although most believed Nero was in fact the culprit behind Rome burning, he wickedly shifted the blame to the Christians of that day – thus launching the incredibly vicious and relentless persecution against believers that spread throughout the Empire. They were hunted and hounded, attacked and assaulted.

The Apostle Peter wrote a letter to these suffering saints and you can read it in your Bible today. Suffering believers back then probably wrestled with the same questions burdened Christians struggle with today:

Was trusting Christ worth it?

• Is this the life we can expect for becoming followers of Jesus?
• Is this the payback for becoming a Christian?
• Is this salvation really as good as they say it is?

Did some overwhelmed and discouraged Christian say: “The fires of Rome may have been bitter, but the fires of persecution are much worse – everything we have is going up in smoke, disintegrating before our eyes – all that we lived for is being lost. If today is this bad, what will tomorrow be like?”

Peter writes these believers to tell them about their ‘tomorrow’ – their ‘future.’ The persecutors may strip them of everything down here, but they can not hurt, harm or even touch what is their’s up there.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

According to his great mercy,

he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,

kept in heaven for you,

who by God’s power are being guarded through faith

for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

(1Peter 1:3-5 ESV)

We can’t lose our eternal inheritance. Dear Child of God, that unforgettable moment when for the first time ever you were thrilled with the Lord Jesus and overjoyed to know He died for your sins – yes, at that very moment, you entered into a solid, secure and special relationship with the Eternal God.

There is no part of your eternal inheritance that can decay or be diminished or destroyed. All of God’s might and power is keeping it safe for you and all of God’s might and power is keeping you safe for it. Yes, it belongs to you now! It is already sitting in Heaven’s heavily guarded safety-deposit box awaiting your arrival. The fiery trials may seem unbearably hot and the days of suffering and storms may seem long but an eternity of unimaginable delights is much longer!  Much longer.

Don’t let your future be obscured by the clouds of today. Amidst the clouds and tears caused by the immediate, rejoice today over your great salvation.