Maybe I am Not Ready Yet…!

             

            This week I came across the following personal confession of a Christian writer: “Maybe I am not ready yet to suffer for the Kingdom of God. My heart is too impure, my soul too divided, my love too fragile.”

            Suffering for the kingdom of God is something we would rather not think about. But recent news events have forced the thoughts upon us. For too long, perhaps, we have tried to separate any form of suffering being related to faithfulness in the kingdom. Especially if we are thinking about undeserved suffering.

            But in the quote above we are made aware that perhaps it is our heart, soul and love that are not ready for this level of acceptance and commitment. It is a topic that is touched on in Scripture. In fact, nearly 150 times it is mentioned by various biblical writers.

            Perhaps the one Scripture passage that hits home on this topic is the following one in the Book of Revelation:

            “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown” (Revelation 2:10).

          The apostle John, while in exile on Patmos, is instructed to write this message to the angel of the church in Smyrna. He begins by counseling his readers from that city to not be afraid of what they are about to suffer. That gets at the heart of it all. We who are Christians must daily ask God, Christ and the Spirit to strengthen our faith and not let any kind of fear to debilitate us.

            Spiritual persecution is pictured by John as the devil putting some of them in prison to test them. They are counseled to be faithful, even to the point of death. As a direct result of that faithfulness, a victor’s crown will be given them in the form of eternal life with God—a present and future presence with Sovereign God.

            Are we ready yet to suffer for the Kingdom of God? Christians in other parts of the world already are suffering at the point of giving their lives. May our hearts be made more pure, our souls more undivided in our commitment, and our love stronger so that when the time comes we will be ready to lay our lives down for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and for the kingdom of God!

In Christian love, Curtis

“Stay a Little While, O Wanderer”

                 This past week I had the opportunity to visit an exact replica of the ancient catacombs found outside Rome. It was to scale, along with the type of rock excavated and the art and graphics on the rock walls. The frescoes are copies of the originals.

                There were a couple of authentic items, one being the actual body of an 8 year old boy martyred in Rome. His body was wrapped in fine clothes and a stately outfit, but you could see his mummified hands and feet with the bones showing. It was humbling and eerie to be actually looking at the body of young man from a Christian family almost 2,000 years old. He is known as St. Innocent.

                There were nearly 900 miles of underground passageways dug out by early Christians in the pumice-like rock. The purpose was to have a place to bury their dead, and to have special services in honor of their dead. This was all necessary because Roman authorities would not permit Christians to be buried in regular cemeteries.

                As I walked through the dimly lit, narrow passages, I could see various fading artwork and graffiti. The words that captured my attention the most were, “Sta, viator.” This can be roughly translated as, “Stay a little while, O Wanderer.” Or, another possible translation that our guide suggested was, “Pause, and consider your own fate.”

                Something deeply stirred within me as I witnessed what it must have been like for Christians in the early centuries to remember their dead. It was important for me to pause and stay a little while, giving  homage in my own heart to those who have gone before. History has not recorded for us all of those brave Christians who died and were buried in the Roman catacombs. They are a long forgotten witness of the faithful who have gone on before.

                The first three centuries of the church were difficult years. Depending on where one lived in the Roman Empire, different levels of persecution were experienced. Some stories of amazing faith in the face of cruel martyrdom have emerged from this time period.

                Yes, I want to stay a little while precisely because I am a wanderer! I am in exile, a foreigner, and a stranger that has a heritage of faith blazing the trail for my own witness in the world. May I always be true to Jesus who died for me.  May I always take time to remember the faithful who have gone before.

^“They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground "(Hebrews 11:37-38).

In Christian love, Curtis