Dr. Bill Daniel has served as an elder for over seven years at Living Hope. He and his wife Annie are faithful members of the church and participate in small group together. Bill is a teacher, a leader, and regularly serves on foreign soil as a medical missionary.
What am I willing to die for?
What am I willing to suffer pain for?
What am I willing to be imprisoned for ?
These are the deep questions that are answered by the martyrs.
" some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated--- of whom the world was not worthy--- wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." Hebrews 11:35b-38
Those are safe questions for me to ponder because in the thirty-five years I have been a Christian I have never had to face such situations. More appropriate for me is...
Am I willing to be socially uncomfortable?
Am I willing to be rejected?
Am I willing to be made fun of?
These are the questions I find most uncomfortable.
Am I willing to risk my shallow and uneasy associations I have with my non-Christian friends for the joy of seeing their salvation?
As Brandon Porter shared with us on Sunday morning in worship, persecution is accompanied by pleasure as we see God at work through us. Or as Jason shared last week - how much do I have to hate some one not to share God's salvation with them.
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