As I’ve watched the current situation in Afghanistan unfold, my heart weeps. My emotions bounce between anger, frustration, and horror as I’ve watched the pictures scrolling across my screen. Prayers fall from my lips for the trapped cross-cultural workers and Afghani Christians who face inevitable persecution. For Americans trying to return home. For our military. And, I’ve prayed for our leaders.

Recently I heard a speaker quote an inscription found on William Bradford’s grave marker: “What our fathers with so much difficulty attained, do not basely relinquish.” As I hastily scribbled down the quote, I paraphrased it to read: “Do not abandon carelessly what those before you fought for faithfully.”

History humbles. In the future, when we look back at the current situation in Afghanistan, will we see that we carelessly abandoned what others fought for faithfully? How will history judge this moment in time?

I also wonder how history will portray Christians in America during the last couple of decades. Will history find us faithful to God’s Word, or see us carelessly abandoning the freedoms for which martyred Christians have fought and died.

When I first read the book “The Insanity of God,” my view of persecuted Christians drastically shifted. I’d always prayed for God to protect persecuted Christians and prayed for their removal from their dangerous situation. And those prayers weren’t wrong. But I realized that the persecuted Christian’s prayer request was for strength. Strength under persecution, not to give up but to be a light in the darkness.

Here is one of the most impactful stories I read in “The Insanity of God.” The author, Nik Ripken, had interviewed “Stoyan” about the persecution he and his family had endured.

As Nik thanked Stoyan for his time, “Stoyan smiled modestly and replied, “I thank God and I take great joy in knowing that I was suffering in prison in my country, so that you, Nik, could be free to share Jesus in Kentucky.” 

Those words pierced my soul. I looked Stoyan straight in the eyes. 

“Oh, no!” I protested. “No! You are not going to do that! You are NOT going to put that on me. That is a debt so large that I can never repay you!” 

Stoyan stared right back at me and said, “Son, that’s the debt of the cross!” He leaned forward and poked me in the chest with his finger as he continued, “Don’t you steal my joy! I took great joy that I was suffering in my country, so that you could be free to witness in your country.” 

Then he raised his voice in a prophet-like challenge that I knew would live with me forever: ‘Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution! That is our witness to the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!'”

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“Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution!”

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Christian friends, we have yet to experience actual persecution in America. Inconvenience, yes. But life and death persecution, no. 

But I do fear that we are in danger of carelessly abandoning what others fought for faithfully as believers in America.

When we ministered in Russia, we arrived shortly after the fall of Communism. Watching Russian believers experience the freedom to worship openly and publicly moved my heart. These steadfast believers survived perilous times, and their numbers multiplied under persecution. But after several years of religious freedom, I remember an older babushka (grandma) commenting to me that she was witnessing apathy in the church for the first time in her life. Freedom to worship was now taken for granted. The strength that was sharpened under persecution had been replaced with apathy. 

So friends, instead of lamenting the “inconvenience” that many of us are experiencing as believers in America, let’s pray for strength. Strength to be obedient to God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Strength to stand firm in our faith and to be faithful despite current inconveniences and possible future persecution. Resist apathy. Rejoice in the freedom Christ brings.

Let’s not give up in freedom what Christian brothers and sisters worldwide would have never given up in persecution.

Let’s choose to be faithful, not careless.