Extreme living

We're studying Acts in the Bible study at church. One of the questions we discussed was how did we think Paul and Silas endured the persecution they faced, singing songs in prison, pressing on even when they kept getting kicked out, stoned, beaten, and imprisoned. I think of our friends who are missionaries in some of the most extreme places in the world.

I have no doubt that Paul and Silas were, and my friends are, very aware of the dangers they face, and are diligent to study the Bible, pray together, and sing worship songs. The intensity of their circumstances would make it unthinkable to just get through the day, thinking, "boy, it's been awhile since I had a quiet time. I should think about doing that soon." Even when I've been on a short-term missions trip to Mexico I have been so conscious of my inadequacy and the importance of what we're doing, and have made sure I spent time in the Word and in dependent prayer.

It's easy to dismiss the struggles of missionaries as irrelevant to us in the US where we have no expectation that anyone might be waiting outside the church with guns to disperse us or put us in prison. What God has been impressing on me through this study, though, is that our circumstances here in suburban US are possibly even MORE extreme.

We face dire danger: enough money, enough food, good churches, good friends, TV, video games, and a million comforts and distractions that threaten to make us dependent on things and on ourselves instead of on the only One who can save us.

When our friends left for the mission field, in a country with on-going genocide and war, their parents were extremely concerned that they were taking their 2 little ones to this dangerous place. The pastor "reassured" us at the send-off service that it is far more dangerous, from an eternal perspective, to raise children in this country.

I am convicted that I need to live just as I would if I were on a missions trip, just as I would if I faced the persecution and high calling that Paul and Silas do, because my situation is entirely as intense.