Revelation 1.9 9 I, John, your brother and partner in the
tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on
the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus.
Had I been John, with my personality and preferences, I
might’ve said: this is the thanks I get
for believing in Jesus and talking to others about Him? Not John – no, he
understood a thing called partnership
and another called patient endurance.
He acknowledged those things as from Jesus, and because he did, he won a
one-way ticket to a penal colony on a rocky barren island in the Mediterranean
Sea. Lucky you, John.
John wasn’t bitter. John wasn’t pouting. John understood
he was right where he needed to be at the moment; and of all places for Jesus
to show up, dang it, it was right there on old Patmos amongst all the other
prisoners and the guards and the seagulls.
John understood persecution; he’d seen a lot of it in his
pre-Patmos days. He took Jesus at His word: “I
have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you
will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John
16.33) In other words, “Friends don’t
fear where circumstances take you, just believe that I am greater than your circumstances,
and I am with you in the midst of them.” John, on Patmos (an ugly barren,
unfair place) regularly talked with the Lord and praised His name. Who knows
how many prisoners came to faith in Christ through this old man’s testimony?
And John knew he was where he was because he believed
what he believed. He’d heard of Paul and Peter’s deaths. He was right there in
town when Herod ran James through with the sword. John knew and John believed.
And John kept believing.
Jesus will meet us in the weirdest places. Jesus isn’t
limited to where or how He chooses to show up. Part of the process is keep
believing. And that’s hard especially when circumstances take a wrong turn and
we wind up in a Patmos-like experience. Patmos was gruesome, cruel, and ugly.
Circumstances pay no attention to our personalities or preferences.
But God does. And God cares. And God does it His way and
we can always trust that. Even when it runs counter to our personality and
preferences. That’s why training in righteousness is for right now today when
Patmos is still off in some other universe. Saeed Abedini is in an Iranian
prison for his faith. Fox news reported: An
Iranian court rejected an appeal from Saeed Abedini, the American Christian
pastor held in Iran for his Christian faith, and refused to reduce the
eight-year prison term his supporters believe is tantamount to a death
sentence, according to his family and lawyers.
I believe I ought to pray for Saeed. But I think, right
or wrong, Saeed is where he is because Jesus Christ is with him and Jesus Christ
is greater than an Iranian court. I think Saeed may even have had visits from
Jesus. Is he wrongly jailed? Probably. But I think despite what has happened to
him, Saeed is in the right place at the right time for the right reason. Either
that, or Jesus lied when He said He’d overcome the world…
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