| WEEKLY WORD |
Called to be Martyrs
(Overcomer Wu)
“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer... you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. ” Revelation 2:10
After reading the lives of some great martyrs in the past who died so gloriously to magnify the Name of the Lord, some of us have fancied that we could perhaps be afforded such opportunity someday to do likewise for the Lord. What many of us failed to realize is that we have just such opportunity to live as martyrs everyday of our lives! When we walk so intimately with the Lord Jesus day by day, He is bidding us to stand in a martyr’s shoes by living a self-denying life. If we cannot even deny our selfish interests, selfish goals, selfish priorities, selfish indulgence, and other selfish pursuits, we need not talk about dying as a martyr someday – for surely we will not be willing to die to the Lord when even in the small matters we refuse to give Him the throne and glory in our lives. Yes, it is wonderful to have the privilege and honor of dying physically as a martyr for the Lord Jesus – to seal our testimony with our blood in public, to suffer death rather than to deny our Lord. But in these days God is also calling for those who – in their intensity of love and dedication to Him – will voluntarily live martyr lives on a daily basis.
Are we willing to heed His call? If we are truly serious about not denying the Lord by denying our own lives if we're held at the edge of a sword to our jugular or at gun-point, we need to start by demonstrating practically our self-denial in our daily lives today. Certainly, the Lord does not expect us to do so at our own self effort since that would not be possible – just as it is impossible to physically ask someone to crucify themselves; however, He does expect us to have the willingness to yield ourselves and our priorities to Him. He will then supply us with a martyr’s grace to live accordingly. His Word says decisively: "As thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deut 33:25). But this same word applies also to strength needed day by day to live a martyr life!
To live a martyr life means that our own desires, our own wishes, our own preferences, our own ways – are not dearer to us than the Lord's. If we truly love the Lord our God with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, our very lives will be poured out as a sacrifice daily and hourly for Him. When we thus live a self-denying life for the Lord, we will experience a joy that nothing of our circumstance and condition can perturb. How can I be dismayed or disheartened when disappointments come if my priorities, my thoughts and my desires are unto the Lord Jesus Christ and not unto my own selfish interests? Furthermore, can I not instantly take each and every disappointment, every sickness and pain, every trial, and every heartache and lay it at the cross of Christ, Who is touched with the feeling of my infirmities? (Heb 4:15).When we live a martyr's life for the Lord, our eyes will be fixed on Him alone and not on ourselves or our circumstances. All that should concerned us is this: will our Lord and Lover be able to say to us: “good and faithful servant, you are faithful over a few things... enter into the joy of the Lord.”
The costly box of alabaster signifies the life and livelihood of Mary, for from all indications, she was not very wealthy to be able to lavish such costly item on anyone at will. It was the most precious possession that she had at the time which can be said to signify her heart and her life. My alabaster box of my self-life has to be broken and the precious ointment poured out if I am to manifest my love to Jesus and the fragrance is to fill the house (Jn 12:1-8). Am I pouring out my very life, my future, my all, in joyful surrender and selfless living for Him? Praise the Lord for the wonderful privilege of living a selfless, martyr's life! We do not have to wait until we can declare and seal our testimony of love to God and to His Son Jesus Christ, by dying a physical martyr’s death. Day by day, moment by moment we can experience the reality of living a martyr’s life.
God is still looking for a people (Eze 22:30), who is willing to smash his or her precious alabaster boxes and give his/her heart and life to Him – that the odor of the ointment may fill the house, and that sinners and saints may have a manifest expression of that loving devotion to the Lord Jesus. This embodies the very foundation of our salvation. For this reason, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 26:13 that what Mary had done in denying her soul life by the breaking of the alabaster shall be spoken of wherever the gospel is preached.
Yet sadly, instead of living a martyr's life and growing in grace (2 Pet 3:18), we are complaining about the trials that the Lord allowed into our lives which afforded us the very opportunity to live a martyr's life for Christ. The Lord encouraged us with the words in Revelation 2:10, “Do no fear what you are about to suffer...” When we are faithful to the Lord by being “faithful until death” -- by dying to our self daily, we shall then “receive the crown of life.” The Lord also promised: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26).
The time is short, “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (Jam 5:8). May we be willing to join with the multitudes of saints both today around the world and throughout the past centuries to live a martyr's life unto the Lord. The Lord is seeking those who would love Him to the point of willing to smash their alabaster boxes, to forsake all – especially their own self and selfish interests – and follow Him (Matt 19:27-30; Luke 14:33) and walk with Him wherever He leads... even if that leads to our physical martyrdom. Let us practically live a martyr's life by being unconcerned with our agenda, setbacks, and sorrows, but rather set our eyes ever fixed on the index of the Lord's eyes (Heb 12:1-17), and be fully immersed in His desire, His will, and His ways – not our own will or our own way. Let us be "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Tit 2:13-14).