Be Persuaded

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

2 Timothy 1:12

Think about the challenges faced by the early apostles—every place they went outside of Israel was virgin missionary territory. Most people didn’t know who Jesus was. And if they had heard of Jesus of Nazareth, they had already formed a negative opinion thanks to the local Jewish community’s report about this “false Messiah.”

What kept the apostles going? What allowed them to be dragged out of a city, pelted with stones, and left for dead—yet go right back into the same city to preach (Acts 14:19-20)? It was because of what Jesus had told His disciples: “All authority has been given to Me . . . ; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18, 20). Paul knew that the One he believed in was with him—and had the power and authority to keep him secure until the end.

Take courage today in your own personal mission field, to share the gospel without fear. Be persuaded, as the early apostles were, that through Christ all things are possible.

The Christian heart . . . has been thoroughly persuaded that all things happen by God’s plan, and that nothing takes place by chance.

JOHN CALVIN