I hope that organizations that work with persecuted Christians aren't giving you the idea that persecuted Christians are super-saints. Such an idea is not only inaccurate; it's also harmful, since it reinforces the belief that only super-saints-not ordinary Christians like us-are equipped to withstand persecution when they encounter it, and that the believer's response to persecution emerges effortlessly and supernaturally, absent intense spiritual training and daily whole life discipline.

As I speak at events on behalf of persecuted Christians and as I read blog posts and articles, I sometimes come across this kind of hagiography, where the speaker/writer asserts something like, "Persecuted Christians don't go to small group meeting. They go to small group beating. And they're glad they get to go. And they give thanks for it and can't wait to go back the next week and get beaten again."

And it's not always the organizations that spin these kinds of yarns. Sometimes they're accurately reporting the testimonies they've received from underground believers. It's just that some underground believers-having now shared their stories for magazines and live audiences-realize what draws the biggest response. And they, um, tailor their stories accordingly.

As a person who has worked for years now with believers in what is almost universally acknowledged as the most persecuting nation on earth-North Korea-I can assure you that no one likes to get beaten. No one flies away from a beating with blood pouring from the bullet holes in their superhero tights as they call out, "I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus!"

We supporters of the persecuted church contribute to the problem too. We vote with our dollars and our tears and our applause for the stories we like best. And the stories that we like best, unfortunately, are the superhero stories. Believe me, persecuted believers see this and struggle with the same temptations the rest of us do when we recount our own stories before large audience who we want to like us.

We should never forget that no less a persecuted Christian than Jesus himself despised the shame of the cross (Hebrews 12:2), cried out publicly that God had forsaken him (Matthew 27:46), and asked his father if the cup could pass from him (Matthew 26:39).  And we should never forget that the humanness of those responses is a constant source of encouragement to those who are counted worthy to suffer for his name (Acts 5:41)-even though they don't like having their skulls cracked with lead pipes any more than you would.

We should never forget this because, as Paul assures Timothy, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). That means us, too. And that means that the stories of persecuted believers need to do more than amaze and inspire us. They need to instruct us how to act when we find ourselves in not altogether different situations.

And that's why God makes only one size saint-human size-and why the only testimonies worth our attention and consideration (and financial support) are the ones that contain flubs and foibles and failures as human size saints around the world struggle, just like Christians in every age before ours have, too, to learn how to be faithful in the midst of persecution.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8).