Suffering

DEVOTION
1 THESSALONIANS
SUFFERING
1 Thess 2:14-16
14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
NIV
I wonder if I as a member of the body of Christ, I alone am responsibly to imitate those churches in Judea. Or does this imply the whole local church I attend should be imitators of those early churches in Judea. Certainly the modern churches here in this country are not suffering from our own countrymen. Far from it, the modern church simply does not threaten the establishment enough to even be considered a threat enough to bother with. Perhaps in some countries this is true enough, but not here in the United States. And if I can personalize this, am I a threat enough to the established way of live to be considered a threat and thus receive some form of suffering from the hands of my fellow citizens? Do I speak out against the sins of the world loud enough to be a threat to them? Does the Church? Or is the “love of God” message just a clanging symbol? Is it a noise no one notices or cares about? Maybe if the message was “repent of your sins, because you’re condemning yourself to hell if you don’t” would get enough attention to cause them to bring suffering on the churches or on me. I know I do not stand on the corner, but I sure do come in contact with people of the world, people who are not a part of the body of Christ, people who are not saved. Do people hate God that much if I or the local church were to act and live in the same manner as those early churches in Judea, they would hate us also? What about the love of God? But again the United States is supposed to be a Christian country and most people think they are Christians so who cares about one voice or one denomination that is a little wacky. Maybe I need to change me message. Maybe I need to be more forthright in declaring sinners as sinners and they need to repent. Yet it is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of their sin. Maybe I simply need to declare the road to salvation more clearly. Maybe I need to declare Jesus Christ is the one and only way to salvation more clearly. Maybe I need to declare in order for someone to enter into the kingdom of God they must be born again with greater vigor. Then maybe I might just experience some suffering at their hands.