A Lenten Reflection
In Whose Name We Live..and Die.
Christians all around the world are being killed for their faith.
Beheaded.
Crucified.
Shot.
Burned.
Buried Alive.
All horrible deaths.
All because they refused to recant their faith in Christ Jesus.
The killers didn't ask what to what denomination the martyrs belonged.
They didn't ask what the praise music was preferred...modern, old, or ancient.
They didn't ask what robes, suits or cassocks the ministers of the dead wore.
The killers, the murderers, the fanatics only asked if their prisoners believed and stood by their God, by Jesus.
And as those men and women stood by the name of the Lord, they died.
Jesus warned us this would happen, that people who love and follow Him would be put to the death. And throughout the ages, countless men and women have died in the name of Christianity...not for love of a denomination, or a style of worship, but for a living, redeeming Lord who promises us not only to be with us in turmoil, but to keep us with Him in eternal life.
They died for a Savior, very God of very God, who had died first for them...a Lord who had suffered and bled for love of those who would claim His name.
Let us be somber in our reflections...there is always a cost, a cross to bear, for following Jesus, for being part of "The People of the Cross."
But there is everlasting love and salvation granted to those who do.
Have you counted the cost?
Are you willing to bear the cross, or crosses, you are given in this life?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
In Whose Name We Live..and Die.
Christians all around the world are being killed for their faith.
Beheaded.
Crucified.
Shot.
Burned.
Buried Alive.
All horrible deaths.
All because they refused to recant their faith in Christ Jesus.
The killers didn't ask what to what denomination the martyrs belonged.
They didn't ask what the praise music was preferred...modern, old, or ancient.
They didn't ask what robes, suits or cassocks the ministers of the dead wore.
The killers, the murderers, the fanatics only asked if their prisoners believed and stood by their God, by Jesus.
And as those men and women stood by the name of the Lord, they died.
Jesus warned us this would happen, that people who love and follow Him would be put to the death. And throughout the ages, countless men and women have died in the name of Christianity...not for love of a denomination, or a style of worship, but for a living, redeeming Lord who promises us not only to be with us in turmoil, but to keep us with Him in eternal life.
They died for a Savior, very God of very God, who had died first for them...a Lord who had suffered and bled for love of those who would claim His name.
Let us be somber in our reflections...there is always a cost, a cross to bear, for following Jesus, for being part of "The People of the Cross."
But there is everlasting love and salvation granted to those who do.
Have you counted the cost?
Are you willing to bear the cross, or crosses, you are given in this life?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
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