Call to Die.

As a child I would often hear or read about people who gave their lives for different causes. Missionaries, patriots, activists...I have always marveled at these stories. I vividly remember seeing the images of the Tiananmen Square massacre on the news...the college student standing in front of the tank. I recall memorizing Patrick Henry's speech in 5th grade: "Give me liberty or give me death". I read numerous accounts from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. It's actually something that I gave a lot of thought to as a kid...as morbid as it seems. I've recently found my mind traveling back to these thoughts. I ask myself the question, why do people choose to die when mere words can save their lives? I think maybe it has something to do with the thought of what their lives might look like...without the things that give them meaning. For example, I believe I would die for my wife and children. Why? One reason is that I love them and will do all I can to keep them from harm, but another, underlying reason is that deep down I realize that without them life on earth would lose much of it's meaning. This is the reason the patriot offers his life for liberty...life without it is meaningless anyway. So then the question arises...would I die for Christ? If confronted with the choice of death or a life on earth without him, what would I choose? And...would a life without Christ look much different from the one I live now? I hope I would die for my Jesus, but it seems like I often choose life without him...when death isn't even the alternative.

"For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better." - Philippians 1:21-22

"We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it" - Philippians 1:30