What Does It Mean To Give Christ Your Life?? April 20, 2014
India is a country where only 2% of the population claim any kind of Christianity. Members of the Lord’s church are a part of that 2%. What does it take to be faithful to God in a country like India? Of course, it is different for different people depending on the circumstances in which they live. Once, when I was preaching in India, I saw a man drag his wife from the assembly and beat her because she came. At that time, it was legal and we could do nothing. She came back. Once, I saw the back of a man who, along with his family had scars from numerous canings and burning because they continued to evangelize in their Hindu village. Today I want to tell you, via Jim Waldron’s newsletter, about a woman who was beaten many times and finally to death because she was a Christian. Her husband was not indifferent to Christianity as some are. He was hostile as many Hindu and Muslim husbands are.
Let me quote from Jim’s letter: “And this sister who suffered for the cause of her faith stood tall with courage, conviction and a backbone defending the One who washed away her sins and promised her eternal life. Throughout the beatings when death was teasing her relentlessly and Satan enticing her to compromise for just once, she put death to shame and defeated Satan by embracing her Lord till the last breathe of her life (Rev. 2:10). She did not fear the one who was able to kill her body, but joyfully adhered to the One who had the power to redeem her soul (Mt. 10:28).
So that you might know, such beatings have been illegal for several years now and the husband has been arrested. Her children have been placed in the hands of a Christian family.
Brothers and sisters, in this month when I pray that you are emphasizing growth in godliness in your life, the events referred to above bring us new thought about becoming godly. To reverence our Savior so that we would die for him is not something we face (yet), but many do. Thank God for the example of those who have “resisted unto blood” (Heb. 12:4) and those who “endure a great fight of affliction” and who take “joyfully the spoiling of their goods” (Heb. 10:26-35). Shall we not at least examine ourselves in regard to the possibility that we may one day face such suffering? Let us be encouraged, first by our Master, and then people like the woman above who became a willing martyr for our Lord. mg