Minute Musings...Of Whom The World Is Not Worthy

I've been thinking a lot today about those who are suffering for the name of Christ in
these times.  We tend to think of martyrdom as being hundreds of years ago...Christians
thrown to the lions, beheaded, crucified and tortured.  But do you realize that the
brutalizing and killing of Christians is still rampart in many parts of the world.  We
here in North America find this hard to fathom, in part because of the "civilized"
society that we have been blessed to live in.  We tend (to our shame) to have an"out
of sight, out of mind" mindset.  I just read today of Christian families in Iraq;  the
fathers are being hung, the mothers raped and killed and the children beheaded.  The
children that can escape are trying to stay alive in the mountains, but are dying of 
hunger and thirst while being hunted down.  This is happening right now, it is not
history.

Hebrews 11:37 - 38  "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword:  they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins;
being destitute, afflicted, tormented;  (Of whom the world was not worthy:)  they
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."

This passage in Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the "Christian Hall Of Fame."  It
is talking about those who had given their lives because of their faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.  We can take this same passage and see how it applies today as well.
I truly believe that God gives a special kind of grace to those of His children who
suffer like this.  We see this promise in 2 Corinthians 12:9  "My grace is sufficient
for thee:  for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

We also have the example of those that took a stand for the Lord and suffered because
of it.  Corrie Ten Boom was born in Amsterdam in April 15, 1892.  When the 2nd
World War started, the Boom family became very involved in the Dutch underground,
actually hiding 10 Jews in a secret room in their home.  The whole Boom family was
arrested in Feb of 1944.  Corrie and her sister Betsie ended up in the Ravensbruck
Concentration Camp, where Betsie would die.  Corrie was eventually released.  All
ten of the Jews they hid survived.  Betsie gave her life, and Corrie was ready to do so
as well.

Missionary Jim Elliot and his wife Elizabeth were getting ready to take the Gospel to
violent, and as yet unreached Auca Tribe in Ecuador.  On January 8th, 1956, Jim was
killed along with 4 other men, when their plane crashed.  It was his wife Elizabeth
that later was among the first to reach the Auca Tribe with the Gospel.  I like what
has been written about Jim;  "He gave what he could not keep, and gained what he
could not lose."

How ready are you today to take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ?  We may or may
not have to put our lives on the line someday for our faith...but are you willing?  Are
we at the place where we can say with all sincerity, "Not my will, but Thine be done."