{Friday, January 06, 2006
. Story}
Imagine this happening to you...
One Sunday morning during service, a 2,000 member congregation was surprised to see two men enter, both covered from head to toe in black and carrying sub machine guns. One of the men proclaimed, "Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ, remain where you are."
Immediately, the choir fled, the deacons fled, and most of the congregation fled. Out of the 2,000 there only remained around 20. The man who had spoken took off his hood, then looked at the preacher and said "Okay Pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites... Now you may begin your service. Have a nice day!" And the two men turned and walked out.
So many times we claim that we will do things for Christ. Be it a simple prayer, offering or our valuable possessions. But how about our lives? It is the God-given breath of life that allows us to enjoy everything and do all the things in this world. And we say that we'll give up our lives for Him, do anything for Him and plenty more. There is no faith required in saying that, mainly because we believe we will never be in that situation. But if He chooses us to die for Him, so many people think twice and in their panic, flee. Just like Peter, he said he would never leave Jesus' side, yet he denied Him not once but three times! Not to mention he probably denied Him those three times in under a minute. Yet he went on and became a great man for God.
But losing our lives is quite a different case than denying Christ. Peter's life was not taken and thus he could repent and change for the better. But once our lives are taken, we can no longer repent, we are dead after all. But it is not merely the death, it is your attitude. There is a short story about two rabbis who were in a concentration camp in a Nazi controlled war-torn zone during World War II. One of them had lost his faith and said God did not exist, but the other kept believing and said that God would save them. When the time had come for the rabbis to go into the gas chamber, the believing rabbi said there was no God. The unbelieving rabbi then took a step of faith and prayed as he entered the gas chamber.
The story is unknown from there, whether he survived miraculously or not. But it is inspiring to see someone to have faith once again in the face of death. Same goes to us, same goes to those twenty people who remained, to have a good attitude and strong faith in the face of death. That is truly martyrdom.
† P§¥KØ †™ testifying at 3:09 PM
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Imagine this happening to you...
One Sunday morning during service, a 2,000 member congregation was surprised to see two men enter, both covered from head to toe in black and carrying sub machine guns. One of the men proclaimed, "Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ, remain where you are."
Immediately, the choir fled, the deacons fled, and most of the congregation fled. Out of the 2,000 there only remained around 20. The man who had spoken took off his hood, then looked at the preacher and said "Okay Pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites... Now you may begin your service. Have a nice day!" And the two men turned and walked out.
So many times we claim that we will do things for Christ. Be it a simple prayer, offering or our valuable possessions. But how about our lives? It is the God-given breath of life that allows us to enjoy everything and do all the things in this world. And we say that we'll give up our lives for Him, do anything for Him and plenty more. There is no faith required in saying that, mainly because we believe we will never be in that situation. But if He chooses us to die for Him, so many people think twice and in their panic, flee. Just like Peter, he said he would never leave Jesus' side, yet he denied Him not once but three times! Not to mention he probably denied Him those three times in under a minute. Yet he went on and became a great man for God.
But losing our lives is quite a different case than denying Christ. Peter's life was not taken and thus he could repent and change for the better. But once our lives are taken, we can no longer repent, we are dead after all. But it is not merely the death, it is your attitude. There is a short story about two rabbis who were in a concentration camp in a Nazi controlled war-torn zone during World War II. One of them had lost his faith and said God did not exist, but the other kept believing and said that God would save them. When the time had come for the rabbis to go into the gas chamber, the believing rabbi said there was no God. The unbelieving rabbi then took a step of faith and prayed as he entered the gas chamber.
The story is unknown from there, whether he survived miraculously or not. But it is inspiring to see someone to have faith once again in the face of death. Same goes to us, same goes to those twenty people who remained, to have a good attitude and strong faith in the face of death. That is truly martyrdom.
Post a Comment
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