This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled Extreme Devotion, compiled by Voice Of the Martyrs. In the following passage, the account of early Christians in Rome provides us with fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35)
"The Christian blood you shed is the seed you sow; it springs from the earth and increases all the more."
The Christians in the early church thrived in the face of intense persecution by cruel government authorities. Their brothers and sisters were being tortured, maimed, burned, and murdered for the sake of Christ. Each martyred believer gave the other remaining believers even more resolve. They looked past their own fears for their lives and saw only the fields white for harvest as Jesus described those who are ready to accept Him as their Lord. They gave the following daring response to the judges and authorities in charge of the persecution:
And now, O judges, go on with your show of justice, and you will be righteous in the opinion of the people as often as you make a sacrifice of Christians.
Crucify, torture, condemn, and grind us to powder. Your injustice is illustrious proof of our innocence, for the proof of this is that God permits us to suffer.
But do your worst, and create your inventions for tortures upon the Christians; it serves no purpose. You do, however, attract the world and make more persons to be in love with our faith. The more you mow us down, the quicker we rise.
The Christian blood you shed is the seed you sow; it springs from the earth and increases all the more.
FURTHER: Though these words were written centuries ago, this message is still being fulfilled today. Over forty nations of the world are currently experiencing religious persecution. In many of these nations, however, the church is flourishing with new believers every season and increased boldness among its members. Persecution has not accomplished its goal of reducing the followers. In fact, it has often served to increase the number of those willing to sacrifice. As followers of Christ, we can view the opposition that patrols the fields of souls waiting to accept Christ as giants waiting to devour us. Or we can view the opposition as mere scarecrows--counterfeit images of fear. Will you continue to forge ahead in labor for Christ?
A moment of consideration: As we read and intercede for Christians across the world, we are rightly troubled by reports of inhumanity and pain toward believers in Christ. But consider the stalwart faith that addressed the judge in the above account. How might we have responded if we were believers at that time? No doubt, many at the time were fearful, but not all. Our account, above, tells of the bravery of the latter. Would we have been fearful or brave? God's Word is a good source of encouragement, to grant us courage and to take steps beyond our fright.
Scriptures say that perfect love casts out and supplants fear. Perfect love turns our affections from self to love for others; perfect love can fill our lives and our thoughts with love for others. Authors such as Dwight Small can wax eloquent about the application of agape love to marriage (but this applies also to our love shown to others in any setting): Biblical love is agape love; in marriage, agape is not born of a lover's need, nor does it have its source in the love object. Agape doesn't exist in order to get what it wants but empties itself to give what the other needs. Its motives rise wholly from within its own nature. Agape lives in order to die to self for the blessedness of caring for another, spending for another, spending itself for the sake of the beloved.
This love is what we are called to in our interactions with others. 1 John 4:17-18 tells us, "By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world." This verse shows us that when we have love for God in us, we don't have to fear God, but we can approach Him with bold confidence. John is not saying that we should strive to have love perfected, but rather, he is stating a fact--love is perfected or completed in us. But how? John says, "By this". By what? It refers to verse 16, which is that God abides in Him. Because Christ lives in us, His love is perfected in us. It is not because of our spiritual gymnastics, but because Love in its purest form, Christ, is one with us in the spirit.
Fear of opposition or ridicule can weaken our witness for Christ. Often we cling to peace and comfort, even at the cost of our walk with God. Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:4-5 that we should fear God (who controls eternal, not merely temporal consequences) for His control of our future. Here, fear reflects honor, respect and awe at God's sovereignty and power. The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. We don't have to fear God in our everyday lives. But as in our battle with this world and its forces, the real enemy is fear and not the bayonet and the bullet. Fear can begin to affect our behavior and our actions. Eventually it will have a negative effect on our health. It can lessen the quality and shorten the longevity of our lives.
The story has been told of Death walking toward a city. A man stopped Death and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to kill 10,000 people," Death replied.
"That's horrible."
"That's the way it is," Death said. "That's what I do."So the day passed. That evening the man met Death coming back, and he said, "You said you were only going to kill 10,000 people, but I heard that 70,000 were killed."
Death said, "But I only killed 10,000. Worry and fear killed the others."
Persecution affects the lives of countless Christians in this world. But, as in the above account, Christians can take a stand for their faith. Tertullian remarked that "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Story after story recounts how increasing incidence of persecution has brought many to faith as the reaction of believers to the persecution has attracted them to place their faith and trust in the Savior. Courage can affect our behavior and our actions; so can fear do so. In these days, perfect love, courage, strength and bravery, discernment, wisdom and good vision are all important in serving our Lord. The story of the founder of Famous Amos' cookies explains the importance of clear vision in life. You probably know about Wally Amos through his "Famous Amos" chocolate chip cookies. Wally Amos' company grew from a one-man business in 1975 to an $80 million success story. But, by the mid 1980's, reality caught up. The company began to experience a cash-flow crunch. Then he made a deadly mistake. Listen to what he says, "When I reached the point where I was on the verge of losing the company, I started acting out of fear. When you do that, you're not acting from your center. Fear clouds your vision. You can't see clearly." Eventually, he lost his company, all because fear gained control of his life.
How many times did Jesus say to His followers,
"Don't be afraid."
"Don't let your heart be troubled."
"Fear not!"?
When we're controlled by fear, our vision will be impaired. Good, clear vision is important in many ways so that we may see the need of non-Christians for a faith in Christ Jesus; discernment and wisdom alert us to what lies beneath that need. Perfect love works best when we bravely and encouragingly say our first "Hello...", and then with a listening ear we love the person the Spirit leads us to. At such times and in such interactions, opposition may arise; but our opening account describes such opposition as "scarecrows (presenting counterfeit images of fear)". It is fruitless, and others may see it and, noting our response to the affrontery, ask more about Jesus. Scriptures tell us to always be prepared to explain the reason for the hope in Christ that is in us. (1 Peter 3:15-17) Living for others and not for ourselves brings God's love and beckoning to those (like us) for whom His love is intended.