Even if I have to die...

I heard a song on the radio, and the singer was expressing his desire to follow God, no matter what. Even if he were to lose his life. It´s a good song. And when you say something like that to God, it´s coming from a good place, a sensitive heart. A heart that wants to please God.

I just wonder if we are really willing to lose our lives for God.

For some Christians, throughout the world, losing their lives for God means literally losing their lives. They are burned alive, tortured, beaten and killed because they will not denounce the name of Christ. It´s a terrifying reality, and one that should sober us daily as we walk with Christ in such lavish freedom. That freedom will eventually be taken away from us as the time for Christ´s coming get closer, and we, too, may one day have to face those horrors. But for now, that threat is still distant, and doesn´t play much of a role in our lives from day to day.

So, when a middle class, everyday Christian says to God, ¨I would die for you,¨ what is that person really saying?

Is God unjust? Why should some Christians be called to give their lives while others are free to live out their lives comfortably?

The answer is that God is just, and all Christians are called to give their lives for Him. If someone put a gun to your head and asked you if you are a Christian, I hope you would say yes. I hope I would, too. But what about the daily death we are called to face? What about dying to ourselves? What about taking up our cross?

I have been in many different settings and cultures and I have observed the current state of the Church, and I fear that this death is just as rare for us as martyrdom. We live a Christianity that is comfortable, safe, and, to be honest, virtually unrecognizable in contrast with the Christianity of Scripture.

You don´t become a martyr based on one act of faithfulness when the gun is on your temple. You become a martyr based on the daily act of dying to self. This is why Jesus warns us:

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.¨ Luke 14:26-33





If it were easy, if it were comfortable, if it were a matter of just saying the words, why would Jesus talk so much about the need to be prepared? The Jesus you accepted as a little kid in Sunday School or on the subway from a Bible pamphlet is not just a happy face with open arms. He is a Holy God who gave His life to save us, and He has expectations. 


I wonder, is our faith really costing us anything? Is it difficult? How much does it occupy our thoughts? How much effort does it require?


Are we really willing to lose our lives? Are we willing to give up our time, our relationships, our hobbies, our jobs, our money, our possessions? Are we willing to watch Him slowly take control of every last detail? Because He must. If we are to follow Him, then He has to be the one calling the shots.


I can say from experience that when He is in the driver´s seat, pretty soon your life becomes unrecognizable. Because it isn´t yours anymore. You lost it. And only once that happens can you really begin to be a follower of Christ.