God Has A Purpose In Allowing Persecution

History records that in 64 A.D., someone set fire to Rome out among the shops lining the Circus Maximus, Rome's mammoth chariot stadium. A few days later, two-thirds of the city lay in smoldering ruin.

A rumor spread that the emperor Nero had set the fire because he wanted to rebuild Rome to his liking. Needing a scapegoat to get himself off the proverbial hot seat, he chose to blame a defenseless and unpopular minority — Christians.

Because Christianity was new and its followers still relatively few, the sadistic treatment of using them as human torches to light Nero's palace garden continued with little opposition.

However, his persecution eventually backfired. Instead of weakening Christianity, it strengthened it. History tells us that within a few hundred years, Christianity became so influential, that in 380 A.D. Emperor Theodosius made it the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Dear reader, God has a purpose in allowing persecution (1 Peter 1:5-9; cf. Matthew 5:11-12; Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17; James 1:2-3). 

He will use it for good if we follow the example of Christ who, "when He suffered, He .... committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets