Martyrs

 MARTYR: A person who willingly suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce their faith....."I have not been called as yet to die a martyr's death, but I am called day by day to live a martyr's life." J.B. Chapman

If you're a sincere believer and follower of Jesus Christ, you've likely wondered at times whether you would be able suffer death as a consequence of your faith in Him. Certainly, there are right now thousands upon thousands of fellow believers around the world who are dying for their faith. It's a sobering fact and though we in America cannot really envision that such a thing could happen here, it could, and we need to consider the cost of what it may one day be to follow Him. Still, right now, it is not likely that any of us here will suffer a literal death for our faith, but we will be called to suffer death for Him, and if I can be blunt, such death may be more painful than a bullet.

J.B. Chapman's quote has haunted me since I first read it a few months ago. Jesus may not ever lead us to a place in our faith where we may be literally put to death for it, but He will certainly lead us to places where we must suffer "death" in order to press on in our journey with Him. This is what Chapman meant when he said he was called and expected to each day "live a martyr's life." Each day we will be faced with choices as to who and what we will live for. Will we live for ourselves and our own gratification? Will we live for our spouses, our children, our professions, our ministries? Our hopes and our dreams? All of these are objects and people that we may love, and many of them can be very good loves, but do we love them more than we love Him? Whatever we love more than Him comes between us and Him. We will not die for One who is not our first love. That is only possible if we have already died to all that is not Him. We can only do so when we live as martyrs, day by day.

This week, perhaps this day, we'll be faced with choices between other things, good things, and He who is the best thing. The best One. Laying down our other loves in surrender to His Lordship and love will be painful. In many cases intensely painful. In those places, can we die a martyr's death. Can we do so because of the depth of our faith in Him? To be His means that we are not only willing to live for Him, but that we're willing to die for Him as well. Living as martyrs day by day. Only by His grace can we. By His grace, will we?

Blessings,
Pastor O