Skip to main content

How Far Will You Go for Christ?

A few years ago, I attended ICOM in Atlanta. God taught me a number of things, but one lesson which will always be with me tested my faith. “Are you willing to stand firm for Christ when your life is on the line?” This question was asked in a few different sessions I attended. I knew I needed to answer it. It is very easy to be caught up in those conversations, where your faith is on steroids and you are in the safety of America, land of freedom of religion to boldly claim you will stand firm for Christ. I did not want to answer on a feeling. I knew that would be dishonest, and this kind of question needs to be rock solid! I spent time searching my heart and soul. God brought me to deep places, where I became familiar with my deepest struggles and my greatest strengths. God gave me scriptures and visions, as I searched for my answer. At the end of the quest, I knew I would have the strength to stand firm on my faith in Christ, even at the risk of my own life.
I am apart of a Bible study here in Uganda, and today I was plagued with another question. “Are you willing to stand for Christ when someone else's life is on the line?” Wow! At an instant, I would answer “No way could I do that!” When you look at that situation from a human point of view, you see that your decisions are killing others! You choose to follow Christ without any question, and lives are stolen. People suffer. An unexplainable pain rests on the loved ones who lost their life. That is EXACTLY what satan (I know I should capitalize his name, but I have a friend who got angry at her spell check during class because, “he doesn't deserve his name to be capitalized!” … great point Monica!) wants us to see. He wants us to see it as our faults, and that we are evil creatures to let such horrible acts exist. But it really is not our fault. Evil reigns in the heart of the persecutor. If I ever find myself in this situation, I will need to be beyond strong in my faith, and I will have to be secure knowing those who will suffer because of my decision are right with God and I will see them once more in Heaven.

I am not saying that I am at this point in my faith. I do not know what I would do if I faced this scenario. I have an overly sensitive heart for the suffering of others. With that, I do not know if I could stand strong for Christ. I need to do the same soul searching I did a few years ago after ICOM. This will be a long, heart wrenching process, but I believe I will be made stronger through it. Even if I never come to an answer, today made me think, “How far am I willing to go for Christ?” The farther I go with Christ, the more the gospel is spread. That is the point of this Christian life on earth. Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:18, and Mark 16:15 make that clear. As for now, I am going to be faithful with the small things. As struggles come, I will have the habit of faithfulness, and as time goes on, I will be able to go farther and farther for Christ. For now, that is all I can do. Just like after ICOM, God will bring me places inside of me I never expected to go, and I will be made stronger.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 10, 2014 at 7:20 AM

    If I had to vote on this I would say "yes" I think Mary would stand for Chrit if her life was on the line!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Life Long Commitment

When I came to Uganda the first time, God opened up my heart and mind in more ways than I can explain. The biggest lesson I learned was that God expects us to serve Him with all of our selves. No middle ground will do. It was this lesson that caused me to give myself completely to the will of God. I remember one afternoon sometime after I returned home, when I was struggling to find what I was suppose to do with my life. I laid my future down at His Throne, and I felt an overwhelming burden to go to the nations.... and well, there went my life! When you meet missionaries here in Jinja, one of the first questions asked is, “how long are you here for?” When they hear that I have committed a year, most respond with, “Oh that is a long time!” This then transitions us into the conversation about me wanting to do long term missions. I am surprised at the amount of people who say, “Yeah. Sounds like it! A year is pretty long term.” When that happens, I just shake my head, and change the su...
1 comment
Read more

Jesus is Alive

God has brought so many people into my life since coming to Uganda. I met so many I can pour into, and together we can come closer to our Savior. Of course, my Ugandan friendships are my favorite. They are the reason I am here, and being able to share life with them changed me completely. But not all are Ugandan. I have made plenty of other mzungu friends as well. These are people God uses in my life to help hold me up, as I help hold them up. We are here because of our missional God, and we need the encouragement from one another to keep going. It is such a wonderful set up going on in Jinja! But I still have met those mzungus who I feel like I am pouring out into like I would my Ugandan friends. That is the strangest sensation, and sometimes feels like a hinderence to ministry. Let me introduce you to Peaches. For the life of me, I cannot remember her real name! But I was sharing with one of my friends what was going on with this woman, and for some reason that I cannot remember n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Little Friends. Big Responsibility

I sat in my place at the back of the church. Recently they were given 500 new chairs. My church cannot hold 500 chairs, but they still set as many out as could fit in our little building. Now, the back is the way back. I find myself among all the mamas with toddlers and young ones. This is not an issue for me. One late mama came and sat next to me. Her youngest is around two and her oldest is around five. Out of all three of them, I know the oldest daughter the best. She has the most beautiful eyes, and often comes to greet me when I come to Kakolye. The younger daughter stayed with mama during the sermon. She sat well most of the service and managed to find a child’s chair to sit between mama and me. I sat as usually do, one leg crossed over the other, while holding my knee. While I soaked up the sermon, the mama bats at my arm to get my attention. She then pointed down to her daughter, who sat exactly like I did. We shared a laugh at the sight, and she went back to the sermon. ...
1 comment
Read more