I don't know about you but our Master's telling it like it is in this world, making clear what His followers would encounter, always thrills me. Had we who have enlisted in the Christian warfare expected pleasant strolls on sunny days, would we not be overwhelmed at what can and does happen?
No, walking the path Jesus trod is not, cannot be, a walk in the park. But we can all take heart. One cannot name the name of Christ and not always have the victory over evil. Always.
I've come to the realization of two things about this: if I go down into the valley of defeatism, I'll just have to lift myself up again. And, it's helpful to understand that it isn't you and me the devil is primarily after but that our service to God may be interfered with, if not outright stopped for good
Have you not sometimes marveled at those early Christians who chose to undergo unspeakable tortures rather than renounce Christ? Perhaps we've asked ourselves, could I stand up under what they went through? But as one matures in his spiritual journey, and survives onslaughts of the devil himself, it has become clear that there is nothing else one could do. Turning our backs on Him is not an option, actually unthinkable. So we resolve to go on, no matter what is dealt out to us. And there is this: we can take comfort in knowing how many thousands before us, and individuals now, are standing up for their beliefs under incredible hardships.
The woman who founded Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, once wrote something that has always inspired me: "Admiral Coligny, in the time of the French Huguenots, was converted to Protestantism through a stray copy of the Scriptures that fell into his hands. He replied to his wife, who urged him to come out and confess his faith, 'It is wise to count the cost of becoming a true Christian.' She answered him, 'It is wiser to count the cost of not becoming a true Christian.' So, whatever we meet that is hard in the Christian warfare we must count as nothing, and must think instead, of our poverty and helplessness without this understanding, and count ourselves always as debtors to Christ, Truth." (Miscellaneous Writings)
I've learned through my study and practice of Christian Science that rising from the material to the spiritual sense of being is not easy. It must be consciously attained through the overcoming of all that lies between the mortal,unreal sense of being and the divine, or real. Would we expect the putting off of thoughts and beliefs that are not of God to be always pleasant work?
The Bible points out (Peter 5:10): "The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." This may not be of much comfort to us at times, but we learn that every test of our faith in God, if we stay in the fight, does make us stronger.
And in the words of our blessed Master: "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
