To Encourage You

Hebrews 11:35-38 “Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

One of the reasons I believe the Bible is true, is that it says things that are so jarring, so opposite of what one would say if they were making things up in an effort to deceive people into believing it.  Hebrews 11 is known as the “faith” chapter.  It is filled with the exploits of godly men and women who obeyed God in the face of great opposition, and came out victoriously.  It’s filled with the names of some of the greatest saints we know about; people like Abraham, Moses, and David.  But it also tells us about those who lived through tragic, horrible lives of deprivation and torture because of their faith.  If I were trying to “sell” Christianity for how wonderful it is, I’d never tell such things about those who lived lives in obedience to God.  Why on earth would anyone choose such a life, unless it was true? 

The Bible tells the truth about the great cost of following Christ.  While it promises eternal life, a wonderful thing, it also promises that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).  Why tell someone that, if you’re trying to deceive them into following you? 

Many pastors in the USA try to get people to follow Christianity by promising health, wealth, prosperity, i.e., “your best life now.”  Unfortunately, much of what they are purporting to be Christianity is a lie.  The Truth is found in God’s Word alone.  And while some of it may not sound so good, in the end, it is good, because it is the truth.  Much better to hear how things are in truth, rather than how you wish they were, but a lie. 

It is Jesus alone that is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  This One Who was mocked, scourged, spit upon, and ultimately murdered on a cross, has urged us to follow Him, even if it means our own death.  Why? Because it is the way of Truth.  And the truth is, “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:11-13).  “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). 

May God help us to choose the truth of Christ, no matter the cost, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul” (Mark 8:36)?