YouVersion

I guess its fitting that no scripture seems to make me more uncomfortable than the words of Jesus Himself. Statements like "I send you into the world as sheep amidst wolves", "you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles", "You will be hated by all for my sake", and "the one who endures to the end will be saved" are both convicting and terrifying to me. If these things are the results of endurance, I don't know that I have ever "endured" the way Jesus intended. Is a faith that subsists but doesn't endure in this way, faith at all? He makes no mention of any other category of follower. Either you are one who endures or one who does not.

At the same time I am drawn towards this Jesus worth following, who cares for me in my struggles to the degree of the number of hairs on my head, and is so impassioned towards calling people to himself that He did not come "to bring peace but a sword". He in entreats us to lose our life that we might gain Him. As I look at the my life recently, it seems I've been finding it and losing little for His sake. Jesus, change my wicked selfish heart, that I might be found in you and not cut off as a tree that doesn't bear fruit.