Time To Die

You gotta hand it to those climate protestors. 

Did you see on the news this week that some protestors had rented a large truck and then blocked a bridge in Melbourne in peak hour? They unfurled their banners of slogans and unabashedly withstood the scorn and disgust of not only thousands of people held up in traffic, but probably millions of people around the country who derided them when they heard the news.

These protestors carried out their plan to proclaim their message, knowing that it would lead to disdain, arrest and probably imprisonment or fines. Well, they were arrested, and they will be imprisoned for at least a couple weeks.

Whether or not you support their cause, as a Christian I have to admire their boldness and commitment. They are sold out for their cause and they are willing to pursue the proclamation of their own "gospel" even to their own detriment.

Now to be fair, it remains to be seen if they would be so willing to commit such brazen acts if they lived somewhere with heavier penalties, but credit where credit is due. We can denounce their unrighteous law-breaking but admire their devotion, sacrificial spirit and their confidence in their message.

Now I'm sure you can see where this is going! 

We Christians have a much more important message than that of climate protestors! Yet how many of us have half the devotion, sacrificial spirit and confidence in our message?

Did you know that Jesus calls you to that level, and even greater levels of commitment than these protestors? He calls you to not only put your money and freedom and reputation on the line for Him, but also your closest relationships and your very life. Jesus might ask you to die for him.

Let me share with you some Bible. Check this out:

"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it." - Jesus (Mk 8:34–35).

"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." - Jesus (Mt 10:37–39).

Becoming a Christian means pursuing self denial. It's baked in to the whole affair. At the start it means acknowledging your desperate need that only Jesus can meet, but it's not like if we abase ourselves at the door then all the humility and submission ends. We are daily called to take up the implement of execution, the cross, and follow the Christ who went to the cross in love for others.

Wake up sleeper! Your life is on the line! If you would save your life, you must give up yourself. Christ calls us not to self care, nor "me time," nor self preservation. We are called to the radical sacrifice of our whole selves. It is there you will find Life.

"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." - Jesus (Lk 14:33).

"No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." - Jesus (Lk 9:62).

What excuse shall we make for our less than complete cross bearing today? "Oh, I took up my cross yesterday, that's enough for now. I don't want to be a legalist." "I began to plough this field for the Lord, but it is now time to look back."

It is our tendency to pursue the easy route, even in our faith walk, but I remind you to take the hard path: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." - Jesus (Mt 7:13–14).

Ours is the Hard Way.

Your salvation is both the easiest and hardest thing you will ever experience. Easiest because it is all of grace given to you by God, but hardest because it will cost you everything! Count that cost, and then pay it! For Christ is worth every cent!

He is of surpassing worth! Worth more than all of the wealth of this world's riches combined! What can compare to Him, our blessed Saviour? He who made us and gave us breath? He who bears with us through every hour? He who plucked us from the maws of death? He who gives you the Spirit to revive your soul? What can compare with him who upholds the entire universe by the Word of His Power? He who is the radiance of the Glory of God?

What should you not give for him? What suffering is too much to endure for him? What price is too high? What shame too much?

Brothers and sisters let us endure great shame for Christ, let us suffer trial and persecution and loss. Let us be willing to endure through beatings, and court proceedings and slander and mistreatment. Let us be willing to lose home and family and finances and freedom. Let us be willing to endure through the corruptions of this present groaning creation, disease, illness and despair. 

Let us endure all, and lose all, if only we might gain Christ.

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." - Paul (Php 3:7–11).

"If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 
if we endure, we will also reign with him; 
if we deny him, he also will deny us; 
if we are faithless, he remains faithful— 
for he cannot deny himself." 2 Ti 2:11–13.