TV preachers often make faith sound like a glorious triumph, and in the end, I most certainly agree with them -- the Kingdom of God will be exactly that, a glorious triumph over the powers of sin and death. When I read some of the passages in Revelation that detail Jesus riding on a white horse like a conquering hero, coming to save and deliver us in a final victory, rescuing us from the powers that enslave us, I get really excited about the triumph of the Gospel!
In the meantime, however there are some small details...
I doubt that anyone has preached at a revival that all who desire to live a Godly life will be persecuted... Many Christian leaders hide their persecutions and suffering, afraid that portraying their struggles honestly will scare away people who are curious about the faith.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that the more honest we can be with our failings, the more attractive the faith becomes. We're all struggling in different ways, with COVID and with life in general. Some of the things we struggled with pre-COVID probably don't seem as important now, but some of them have likely been amplified by COVID. Every Christian on earth likely has a list of things they're dealing with, personally and physically and relationally and spiritually. But God still triumphs, even in the midst of our struggles, even in the darkest valleys -- the light will still shine.
And so we turn to Scripture, all of it profitable for teaching us about ourselves, about God, and about what our relationships should look like. It's not easy to read some of it... but it all weaves together, uniting to tell a story about a God desperately in love with God's creation and willing to do any and everything possible to redeem us.
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