Sorry to inform you, but the Christian life is hard

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?” —Luke 14:28

Each November, the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission sponsors the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP). I’ve never attended a church that recognized this event, except for one year when my advocacy achieved a 15-second reference to persecuted Christians in a pastoral prayer.

I know there are many competing priorities, but I would like to propose one reason why I think many Christians neglect the persecuted church: it’s an uncomfortable reality that collides with our preference for an easy life.

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Although Jesus’s yoke is easy compared to the demands of pharisaical legal observance (Matthew 11:28–30; Acts 15:10), the path on which he leads us requires unshackling ourselves from alternative sources of comfort. The passage that includes Luke 14:28, quoted above, ends with Jesus’s unmistakable call to count the cost of following him: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

US Christians would rather not give up much. Despite our considerable wealth, financial giving hovers around 2 percent. In a country where most people have ample access to food, the spiritual discipline of fasting receives minimal attention. I don’t think I’ve heard a sermon on the topic in 40 years.

(In contrast, my African friends frequently describe fasting and all-night prayer meetings. Perhaps fasting feels easier for people accustomed to food insecurity.)

Whether or not active persecution threatens our own community, IDOP should remind all of us to take up our cross joyfully.

For the last few months, I’ve lived out a surprisingly instructive parable of this calling. One of my roles as a political campaign volunteer has been to travel to various neighborhoods, knock on doors, and talk with voters about my candidate. Even though the vast majority of residents were friendly, the emotional and intellectual demands of preparing for dozens of unpredictable interactions with strangers filled me with nervousness.

This is a rather modest form of suffering, although one raging man did chase me down his driveway. It pales in comparison to the Christians who are exposed every day to the risk of mob violence, government raids, or terrorist attacks like the one at an Orthodox church in Jordan on October 23.

We should stand up at every opportunity for those who are persecuted all over the world (and not only for Christians). We should also recognize that following God’s call to faithful obedience, though it may not always be pleasant, yields deep joy and fulfillment. We should not go looking for trouble, but we should embrace the trials we encounter as opportunities for spiritual growth (James 1:2–3).

I hope you will commemorate IDOP on November 1 or 8, regardless of whether your church does so.

Bruce Barron, author or coauthor of seven books on religion and politics and a former US congressional aide, was editor of the World Evangelical Alliance’s theology journal from 2018 to 2024. Subscribe to his blog at brucebarron.substack.com.