This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled Extreme Devotion, compiled by the Voice Of the Martyrs. In the following passage, a faithful Cuban Christian prisoner provides us with fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses...let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1)
The written statement in front of the prisoner contained accusations about other Christians. "Sign the document!" screamed the Cuban officer, forcing a pen into the Christian prisoner's hand." "Sign the statement!" His signature was all the government needed to arrest the others.
"I cannot sign this paper," the Christian said, calmly looking the officer in the eye.
"Why not?" asked the captain, with exaggerated calm, before swearing at the man. "Do you not know how to write your own name?"
"It is because of the chain, my friend. The chain keeps me from signing this."
Grabbing the prisoner's hands roughly, the officer held them in front of his face. "But you are not in chains, you idiot!" he screamed.
"Oh, but I am", said the Christian believer. "I am bound by the chains of witnesses who throughout the centuries have given their lives for Christ. I am yet one more link in this chain, and I will not break it."
Though he was threatened and roughed up, the prisoner refused to sign.
A moment of consideration: A popular gospel song once asked the question: "Will the circle be unbroken, by and by, Lord, by and by?" Today, the question might read, "Will the chain of witnesses still be unbroken...by and by?" Will we be found faithful in dire straits? Increasingly in our world, tests of faith abound. Temptations lure Christians away from faith; worldly opposition batters the Christian's resistance to straying from belief. In many, if not most case, attackers scream their demands that Believers return to their former pagan religions. And we Believers in Christ are assailed. We try to blend in with society, hoping that opposition will be minimized. But the enemy has means of exposing and opposing us even if we're confident in our blendedness. Christians in Afghanistan have found this true. Christians in China have discovered the same. Christians in Islam have verified this. And the list goes on. Increasingly, in the present day, faithfulness exposes Christians to undesired scrutiny and restriction.
Increasingly, faithfulness is not fashionable. In His day, Christ Jesus said "...blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." (Matthew 11:6) May we not be the ones who fall away because the Words of Christ are not trendy, not fashionable. May our faith focus our desires upon Jesus, and not upon this world. The world is highly offended by Jesus. His name is anathema to our increasingly pagan country and world. A child wearing a face mask reading "Jesus Loves You" isn't allowed in school until she takes that off and uses a generic mask. This small example, and many more onerous ones abound. These remind us that Jesus warned each of us believers that we are to "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." (John 15:20) Just prior to this statement, He got to the heart of the world's antipathy toward Christians, as He said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:18-19) The world has hated Christ Jesus since he walked upon this earth, and we who believe in and adhere to His teachings are equally hated, today, in this world.
Yet the Scriptures encourage and adjure us to remain faithful, no matter what. John Greenleaf Whittier said the if "…faith is lost, when honor dies, the man is dead"; faith and honor being linked, faithlessness is a BIG problem. Hebrews 11:6 says that "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." As Christians, we aim always to glorify and please God. A crown awaits those who persevere through and beyond earth's trials. (Revelation 3:10-12) The apostle Paul’s letter to Titus says: "Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying:
For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself." (2 Titus 2:10-13)
Paul’s letter to the church in Rome said that he and the other Christians rejoice in the persecution and suffering. (Romans 5:3) The question we must ask ourselves though, is, "Persevere through what?" Does God's Word ask us to persevere through long lines at an amusement park, a day of shopping in a shopping mall, long hours of boredom, or an unfulfilling self-centered life? No, the Holy Bible asks us to persevere through opposition from society, authoritarian over-reach, physical or emotional or psychological attacks, and more. A prior devotional I was led to write revealed the presence of persecution, even in North America, and throughout the world, in the present, "here" at home. There is more persecution of Christians today in the world, than ever before. Open Doors reports that more than 360 million Christians live under pressure and violence for their faith, around the world.
We are to harden or inure (Common Oxford Thesaurus: Harden, toughen, season, temper, condition; accustom, habituate, familiarize, acclimatize, adjust, adapt) ourselves, to expect and survive hardship. To these, Christ Jesus and the apostles agreed--that we should glorify God in whatever we do, and we are encouraged to hold securely what [faith] we have, lest anyone "take your crown." (Revelation 3:11) The Church of Philadelphia was able to withstand the onslaught of opposition despite their weaknesses; their works were well-known; the church obeyed Christ and His teachings; and remained faithful--not denying the name of Christ. In these accomplishments, they persevered toward their heavenly crown. What an icon of success in the face of tribulation and suffering! These accomplishments may be ours as well, through determined and tested faith, knowledge of Scriptures and faithfulness to the Word, and above all, steadfast love toward and adoration of the Risen Lord, Lord of all lords, Savior, King of kings!
Our source added the following post-script to the account, at the beginning of this devotional: "Christian martyrs leave behind a rich testimony of incredible poise in the midst of horrific circumstances. Their strength is heroic. Their words are wise. Their calm is unshakable. Thomas Aquinas wrote, 'Words pronounced by the martyrs before authorities are not human words, the simple expression of a human conviction, but words pronounced by the Holy Spirit through the confessors of Jesus.' Life by life, link by link, the words spoken through the power of the Holy Spirit in the midst of oppression are forming a powerful testimony. You, too, have the potential to add your own chapter to the pages. You, too, are a link in the chain of believers. Will you hold it together?"