Thought 78
Will You Stand Up Even if Others Die?
Have you ever read the Book of Martyrs? I strongly recommend it.
This book is not an enjoyable read, but it will build your trust and thankfulness for all that God has protected you from. It will also be sobering as you read how other Christians were killed for standing for their faith in Christ. Simply believing that Jesus died and rose again is what many, many Christians have died for. The martyrs of our faith have refused to renounce that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and so they were beaten, sawed in two, stripped naked, stoned, thrown to lions, and burned alive.
When one person dies for their faith in Christ, other Christians are often hunted down as well. The question that I pose to you is, if other people die because you refuse to reject Christ will you still stand firm? It is a hard question and you probably wonder why I am asking it. I am asking it because the Bible says that Daniel resolved not to defile himself (Dan. 1:8). This verse is referring to a time when Daniel had to make a decision not to eat the foods that God declared unclean in the Old Testament; and that decision affected Daniel and some of his friends. Will you resolve like Daniel did to never reject God?
Your intentions can be great, but true resolution, determination, gets things done. Men that run in the Olympics have to resolve to train and to prepare for such strenuous competition. Likewise, many students have to resolve to work hard when their studies get tough. Will you resolve to never reject Christ? If you do not, you might not be ready if the time comes.
I read a story once or heard it, I can’t remember which, anyway, it went something like this: there was once a pastor who preached the gospel and the government didn’t like it. So they tried to get the pastor to renounce the gospel, but he would not. In response, they took his wife and children and buried them alive while forcing him watch. As his family was being buried the man’s wife told her crying children that they were going to meet Jesus that day and then she led them in a hymn as they were buried alive…. Persecution is part of the Christian life, it may be extreme or it may not be, but rest assured that it will come.
