Living When Dying is Gain – The risk and reward of radical life

Are you willing to die so that others might hear the good news of Christ?

Maybe a better question is, are you willing to get up and go to church in order to hear the good news of salvation? Once you are there, are you willing to sing praises, out loud, to God before men? Believers? If you are not willing to worship God in front of other believers, how willing will you be to praise God in front of unbelievers?

Are you willing to risk your own salvation for comfort in this world? What is comfort in this world if you inherit eternal fire because of it?

Are you willing to be the first martyr so that others who follow you are received? We hear about planting the seed … You may be the only Bible an unbeliever ever reads. It may not be our reward to bring a non-Christian into the fold. Theirs is not our story to know. But we might be the one stepping stone necessary on that person’s journey towards faith. What if it is your death required as that stepping stone?

The church’s first martyr was Stephen. It was after his public witness and stoning that the first believers were scattered beyond Jerusalem. And from there, they went proclaiming the good news in greater numbers and more locations than ever before.

Something happened to me for the first time yesterday that I KNEW what was going on. I was in a doctor’s office and a nurse was doing her job. I had been there just ten days prior. I knew that she had been anticipating going to a concert. I was supposed to ask her about her concert … I was lying there waiting and I realized that this was as safe as it would ever be to share Christ. I saw the conversation unfold. I asked myself how brave I was … to step outside my realm of comfort. Perhaps this was to get my feet wet. Perhaps she was a Christian already.

Guess what happened? I forgot. In the middle of her job, I got so relaxed, that I forgot. I was so comfortable that I forgot Christ. No, this is not the first time that I dropped the ball. And it won’t be the last. But how many balls have I dropped in my lifetime? When is enough, enough? What is my life worth to me? Better question … What is my comfort worth to me?

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you well be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
Matthew 10:16-18 (ESV)