The enemy of the church

From the forthcoming Kerux commentary on Acts from Kregel (not yet posted on their website):

The great, insidious enemy of the church is not persecution but comfort, not want but plenty, not beatings and arrests but being ignored. It might be difficult for the church in free countries today to imagine the constant anxiety of immanent persecution at any moment in the apostles’ day. Our persecutions will be light in comparison.

<idle musing>
Both points are true: comfort is the enemy, and any persecution is light. The second point needs to be highlighted. Some would have you think that the sky is falling because some small discomfort has to be incurred because you identify w/Christ.

Of course, there is also the sentence that makes me cringe: I've heard people say: "I'm a Christian, so I don't have to do X," where X is something not core to the faith, but core to their comfort in the faith. As if that is a witness to the goodness of God!

The scripture is true: "As it is written: 'God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.'” (Romans 2:24 NIV, quoting from Isaiah 52:5 LXX)
</idle musing>