Martyred For Our Faith

Q

Years ago when I was young and going to Sunday School, our teacher was preparing us to give our up lives for our faith. He wanted us to think about the possibility that someone would shoot us for believing in Christ. I’m 42 now and wonder if you think this was an appropriate topic for a Sunday School teacher to discuss with young children?

A

I don’t think this was an appropriate thing for your Sunday School Teacher to do. The likelihood that any of us will be required to die for our faith is statistically so small as to not be worth considering. If it ever does become likely, the Lord will supernaturally equip us in that moment to meet the challenge (1 Cor. 10:13). In the meantime it’s not something we should worry about.

Personally I’ve always felt that living for our faith is much more difficult than dying for it. Dying for our faith is a one time decision that results in our being immediately taken into the presence of the Lord to begin our eternity with Him.

But living for our faith requires that we make a series of decisions everyday that are contrary to our nature and often put us at odds with the world around us. Most of us will never need to know how to die for the Lord, but everyone of us could have benefited from additional preparation to meet the challenge of living for Him.