Not too long ago I heard Shane and Shane's "Burn Us Up" for the first time....or rather I actually listened to it for the first time. For those of you who have never heard it here is a video from youtube that has the lyrics:
It tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and this song hit me like a ton of bricks. While listening to this song my thoughts turned from these three guys who would have rather been burned alive then bow to an idol to the persecuted church today. One brother that I recently read about who was killed for his faith is Probius. Probius was a martyr around 250AD. He was tortured and killed by the Roman Empire because he would not worship idols. After being tortured for some time he said, "Employ your whole power upon me, and you shall find that neither you, nor the Emperor, nor the gods you serve, nor even the devil, who is your father, shall compel me to worship your idols." After this he was tortured more and eventually killed by the sword.
Persecution is not just something the church faced in the first few centuries. Christians all over the world are facing death because of their belief in Christ and desire to take the gospel to the nations. Next Sunday, Nov. 8, is prayer for the persecuted church Sunday. Many times when we pray for the persecuted church we pray that the Lord will bring them from persecution. However, this Sunday I urge you to pray instead that those being persecuted will have the strength, courage and faith to stand and say with boldness "you shall not compel me to worship idols." Pray too for Believers here. Pray that our passion for the Lord would drive us to a point where we would rather cry "burn us up!" than worship the idols of our culture. Pray that we may cast our idols aside and give anything He calls us to for the sake of the gospel. After all 'he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.'
Thank you, Hillary, for this most convicting post , , , how easily I give into idols, often without hesitation. And then there are those who would rather be tortured and killed before they would deter their affection and allow something else take the place of Christ in their hearts. I needed this during these wee morning hours (Claire was hungry :)
ReplyDeleteily - katie