Ultimate Sacrifice

How great is Heaven! It is the ultimate prize! It's worth the ultimate sacrifice! Countless times, those who follow after the King of Kings lay down their everything in order that they may see His face. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego rather be thrown in the fire then bow down before another. Daniel was thrown to the lions for praying to God. The apostles were tortured, persecuted, killed because they choose to believe in Jesus Christ.

In fact, Jesus even said that "If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell." (Matthew 18:8-9). Heaven is so great that to enter into it is better than anything the world can ever offer!

Bearing that in mind, we must know what is expected of us. To live a Christian life is effectively signing a death sentence.

Figuratively speaking, that means dieing to His cause and His ways. What that means is to follow His words. What He says, we do. We no longer simply follow the whims of our hearts or of our own desires for we are now in the Lord's army. We move when He moves, we act as He wants us to act. Quite often, the choices that He makes for us are extremely hard to make but it's a choice we must make in order to fully understand His glory and to fulfill His great and merciful plan for us and the entire planet.

Literally speaking, it means the world will hate us. Because we are now Christians, we do not see the world as others see it. Our thoughts are now in tune with God's thoughts. We start to see the world through His eyes. It's the ultimate paradigm shift. Life on Earth is short and temporary. We do not belong in the world. Our REAL home is now Heaven. Earthly happenings no longer trouble us because we know He is in charge. The people around us can't understand us because we no longer see eye to eye with him. And what people can't understand, they fear. Not only that, but because we set new standards, others now see how far they have fallen. And being humans, they'd rather not know these things. In fact, if we do follow God wholeheartedly, I believe one day we will encounter people who hate us so much, that they want to kill us.

If it's not the physical killing, it's the spiritual and mental. They question your faith. They try to break your spirit. They plant doubts in your mind. Even the situations can be used against you. One common question which I think Christians all face from time to time is "How can such a loving and merciful God allow all the atrocities going on in this world to happen?"

And that's why it's important to be grounded in God. To know Him, to have a relationship with Him. Through constant talks with Him during prayer and through the Bible, we can gain the knowledge to properly back up our faith. As we defend God, we also educate the world and lead people to Christ.

I'm so excited! Every problem we came across leads us and others one step closer to God. It is very true, those who lose their lives for Christ gain everlasting life in Heaven.