God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. [Matthew 5:10 (NLT)]
As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. [Acts 7:59-60 (NLT)]
His testimony enraged the Jewish high council and he was taken from the city and stoned to death. Stephen was the first of the Christian martyrs but clearly not the last. We’ve all been horror-stricken by the recent news from Egypt where ISIS thugs attacked Coptic Christians on their way to a remote monastery. According to witnesses, the men were told their lives would be spared if they recited the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. When they refused to do so, they were gunned down. Since December, more than 100 Coptic Christians have died in Egypt in four different attacks. On Palm Sunday, two of their churches were bombed leaving forty-four dead. It’s not easy being a Christian in Egypt.
Apparently, it’s not that easy in India, either. Last winter, Bartu Urawn and his wife were forced to stand all night in a freezing pond. When they refused to renounce their Christian faith after being immersed in the frigid water for seventeen hours, they were beaten. Although his wife survived, Urawn died as a result of the torture. A decade ago, Christianity was embraced by ten families in this remote Indian village. Unfortunately, in the years that followed, seven of those families caved into threats and returned to their indigenous tribal religion. The Urawns, however, remained faithful to Jesus.
After watching the news of the Egyptian attack last night, my husband asked how I would respond in a similar situation. I wondered. Would I choose to be a martyr? I’d like to think I would. Like the Urawns, could I endure hours of torture and still stay true to Christ? I’d like to think I could. What if, rather than saving my life, renouncing Christ meant I could keep my children from suffering torture or death? Now it’s getting harder to know the answer. Could I watch them suffer? How could I live with myself in either scenario? Perhaps I’d find an excuse for verbally abandoning Jesus by telling myself that they were just empty words from my mouth and my heart didn’t mean them. I’m not so sure God would see it that way and it doesn’t much sound like something Jesus would do. These are not easy questions and, hopefully, I’ll never be forced to ask them. Nevertheless, the uncertainty of my answers indicates the level of my faith and it’s nowhere near as strong as I thought it was. Jesus told us to pick up our crosses and follow him; let us never forget that the cross was an instrument of torture and He was walking to Calvary. We have been called to share in His suffering and persecution should not deter us.
Living here in the United States, we’re not likely to be threatened with torture or death for our Christian faith. We don’t risk our lives by reading the Bible or gathering in worship and prayer. Perhaps, rather than wondering if we would stand up to ISIS soldiers or an angry mob of non-believers, we should ask ourselves how well we stand up to the world in which we live. Although we may never have to choose between Jesus and our physical survival (or that of our loved ones), there are plenty of opportunities every day to forsake Him in far more subtle ways. If we’re not walking in His footsteps and led by His Holy Spirit, we’re denying Him. There’s more than one way to lose one’s soul.
I will not deny Christ…I will continue to believe until my last breath. [Bartu Urawn]
I recently happened upon a YouTube video about a goose and two police officers. A mother goose kept pecking at the window of a parked Cincinnati police car. When the officer opened the door, the goose led him over to one of her babies; it was tangled up in a string tied to a balloon. Concerned that mama goose would attack if he came close to the baby, the first officer stayed back. His partner was a woman and a mother; seeing the anguish of another mother, she went forward and carefully untangled the little gosling while its mama patiently watched and waited. Once free of the twine, the baby rejoined its siblings and the family swam off with their mother.
Jealousy – that green-eyed monster – certainly caused a lot of problems throughout the Bible. The first case of sibling rivalry occurred when Cain, jealous that God approved his brother’s sacrifice but not his, killed Abel. Saul was jealous of David’s popularity and battles were fought, the Jews slandered Paul and Silas because they were jealous of the large crowds that gathered to hear them preach, Jacob was jealous of Esau’s relationship with Isaac, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy and the prodigal’s brother became jealous when his father threw a party for the black sheep of the family.
The words Soli Deo gloria, meaning “glory to God alone,” were the words at the end of the actor’s bio in the show’s playbill. The addition of those three words in his brief resume was the actor’s way of acknowledging the source of his talent and dedicating his work to God’s glory. I thought of those words when someone flattered me recently. While I knew “Glory to God alone,” was not the right response, I wasn’t sure what was.
Since Jews are prohibited from possessing any food products containing leavening (chametz) during Passover, a Muslim Arab-Israeli man in Abu Ghosh now owns most of the bread, pastries and beer in Israel. As they have for many years, Israel’s two chief rabbis sold all of the leaven food from state-owned companies, the prison system, and the national emergency stores to him. He symbolically purchased the chametz for the duration of Passover by making a small down payment. Having promised to pay an enormous sum at the end of Passover, at week’s end he will tell the rabbis that he can’t pay up, the deal will be canceled, his down payment returned, and Israel again will own its yeast-laden products. Here in the U.S., some Jewish families “sell” their chametz to non-Jewish friends and then put the food in an out-of-the way cupboard. Technically, while still on their property, it’s not really theirs because they’ve “leased” the cupboard to the Gentile buyer. After Passover, the lease expires and the food is sold back to its original owner. While this may circumvent the law, I’m not sure it’s what God had in mind when He commanded, “There must be no yeast bread or any yeast at all found within the borders of your land during this time.” [Exodus 13:7]
“I’ve never seen eye to eye with Mary since we were neighbors,” said the woman harshly. Her statement begged us to ask, “Why?” The woman beside her, however, refused the invitation with the comment, “Well, we can’t get along with everyone!” and promptly changed the subject. Gossip was avoided that time but it’s not always so easy; the line between conversation and gossip is a fuzzy one at best.
