There are realities that have been evident on the pages of Acts that are also ongoing realities for God’s people.
On the one hand, Jesus promised hostility from the world simply due to being associated with him. On the other hand, the Bible speaks of God protecting our faith and keeping us from being overpowered by the evil one, who seeks to destroy our faith.
So God guarantees hostility, but also protects us from losing our salvation. We live in the middle of these two truths, which means that we will need to operate in this tension with faith. In other words, we must continue to press on doing what God has called us do, namely to testify to the grace of Christ to others, while depending completely on him. As is always the case, when we are following the Lord’s revealed will, we are in the safest place we can be, regardless of our circumstances.
So to expect a life from free trial and temptation demonstrates an extremely ignorant view of the Scriptures and would result in a lack of growth and stagnant faith. Conversely, to expect a life where at any moment a circumstance will come upon you and cause you to lose your faith in Christ is equally as detrimental.
What Christ Promises
