If you are a Christian from the Western world – you don’t deal with a lot of physical suffering for Christ. You certainly don’t deal with martyrdom. I think that’s a good thing. Good, but not certain.
I keep a book open in my office (see the picture above). It’s called Martyr’s Mirror and it recounts Christian suffering throughout history. Think Foxe’s Book of Martyr’s on steroids.
I keep the book always in view to remind me that most believers in the past have not enjoyed the freedoms we do today. Many of them paid the ultimate price for their faith. It also sobers me to consider whether my faith is strong enough to endure such a thing.
Here’s one entry as an example: “A. D. 1067, there was a God-fearing man, whose name was Henry, and whom the Romish historian calls a stranger, perhaps because he was obliged to live secretly or as a stranger among the Romanists. It is stated of him, that he preached the Gospel of Christ in the uttermost parts of Sweden, and that he was apprehended for this cause and beheaded for the name of Christ.”
It does us good to remember that our freedoms are not a given, and there may possibly come a time when Christ demands of us the ultimate sacrifice.
Note: If you’d like to read more entries from Martyr’s Mirror, click here.
If you want to buy a copy click here: http://amzn.to/He40It