“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:11 NIV)”
It has amazed me that in the world in which we live as self confessing “Born-Again” and “Spirit-Filled” Believers that we are often shamed or relegated into silence about that for which we should be bold. Let’s take a different look at this passage of scripture. “They overcame him (the devil himself) by the blood of the Lamb (our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ) and by the word of their testimony (our daily outward & verbal proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the change He had made in us); they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death (they didn’t let populular opinion stop or hamper them even when it meant losing their lives)…”
Now with this in mind, the long line of excuses that folks often have for not doing what they know that they should do seems, well…lame at best. In the Gospels in both Luke 9:23 & Mark 8:34, the Lord Jesus made this statement before He ever went to the cross, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” But we are all too often content just to sit by on our comfortable couch of complacency, that He also warned us about in the Revelation, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked…(Revelation 3:15-17)”
The wildest thing is that we have the best thing going and we are often to share it, because we are afraid of offending someone. We as the “Church” are in a cruise control mentality, just holding on till the Lord comes back. We are trying to hold our own, for our own sakes. But we also were warned of this fatal mentality, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. (Luke17:33-36)” We must make our mind up on which side of the line we will stand, because we can no longer straddle the line or the preverbal fence, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)”
I remember as a small child, going to church and singing in the children’s choir a little song, “This little light o' mine, I'm gonna let it shine, This little light o' mine, I'm gonna let it shine, This little light o' mine, I'm gonna let it shine, Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.” Will we let our little light shine despite the ridicule that we will incur…? “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. (Luke 11:33)”
I was sent an article by David Sessions of Politic Daily, and it pondered this very question from a different point of view. “Fox News Sunday" yesterday, Fox anchor Brit Hume suggested that Tiger Woods should trade his Buddhist faith for Christianity if he wants to make a personal comback. When host Chris Wallace asked the show's roundtable to predict the biggest sports story of 2010, Hume said:"Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and it's a tragic situation for him. I think he's lost his family, it's not clear to me if he'll be able to have a relationship with his children, but the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal -- the extent to which he can recover -- seems to me to depend on his faith. He's said to be a Buddhist; I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”After a moment of awkward silence, fellow panelist Bill Kristol quipped, "Well, Brit's concerned about Tiger's soul, which is admirable, but I just made a more straightforward sports prediction, which was that he'll come back and win the Masters.”
I have only one thing that I can add it matters not what you can win or loose her in this life, unless that thing is you immortal & eternal soul!!!!
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36)”
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. (Matthew 7:21-27)”
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life…(John 5:24)”