Chocolate to Die For?

What in life do you value most? What are you willing to die for?

We say we’d die for chocolate, or for love, maybe even for good looks and always for power and money. But really, what are you willing to die for, if for anything?

The one thing I can think of that most people would die for is their faith. Our faith is what we are all about; it is what we live for.

I think of David’s men who risked their lives to get just a drink of water for their leader when he was on the run from King Saul. David was grateful for the water but when he realized that his men were willing to die to get him one swallow of water, he poured it out. He told his men that only God was worth dying for.

So I read up on people who took his thought literally. They are the Christian martyrs who were crucified, burnt at the stake, thrown to the lions, and executed in most horrible ways because they would not give up their faith in Christ. The names of male martyrs are very prevalent but do you know there were also a lot of women and children who died for their faith in Jesus?

Agatha, a Sicilian lady, was such a one. She was scourged, burnt with red-hot irons, and torn with sharp hooks. Then she was laid naked upon live coals, which was mixed with glass, and carried to prison, where she died on February 5, 251.

Joshua exhorted his people, the Israelites, to be careful to obey God’s laws and worship and serve only Him. God warned them to put their faith only in Him. The majority were not as faithful as the later martyrs. They chose to worship other gods. They too paid dearly, some with their lives, but most with captivity and slavery.

Joshua and his household showed us the better way. God honors our faith if we choose Him, even if He asks us to give Him our very life.

“But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15 [The Living Bible]

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I want to walk with you spiritually this year, inviting you to read the Bible through from cover to cover; from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22:21. If that sounds too difficult for you and your kids, you can join in again after you have taken a break or join us for the days you’re up to it. I promise that you will understand the Bible in a much deeper way if you read it through from cover to cover in a year’s time.

Accept my challenge to read the Bible through in one year chronologically, including the Old and the New Testament.

Today read:
Joshua 24:1-33
Luke 21:1-28
Psalm 89:38-52
Proverbs 13:20-23

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