All or Nothing
It’s like one of those typical Hollywood movie scenes.... There, with layers of clothing over their swimsuits, are my children running toward the glistening sands of a pristine beach, while peeling off their outerwear as they hightail it for the foamy ocean waves. Resembling a trail of bread crumbs leading to the beckoning surf, their outer beach clothes are flung into the salty air and strewn along the sand in an act of almost utter abandon. Their immersion into the water is followed by a leap and a yelp of sheer joy.
We can learn a great deal from children, and we are encouraged in Scripture to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with the heart and mind of a child. There will one day be a time when we, as followers of Christ, will shed our earthly possessions and become immersed in a Kingdom that is well beyond our imagination – one that extends like an ocean of love beyond its glorious shores. Like children, we will run, leaving a trail of all that we were and once had happily discarded in order to be robed in spotless, heavenly raiments.
In light of our present reality, however, it seems as if we spend the first half of our lives acquiring everything that we can possibly obtain, including financial wealth, material goods, things to enhance our physical well-being, accreditations, business accomplishments, and many of life’s other accoutrements. Then by choice, or by God’s natural order, we end up spending the rest of our time on earth peeling away anything that might hold us back from leaping into His ocean of eternal salvation.
It’s one thing for us, as children of God, to joyously shed the encumbrances of life as we gracefully proceed to “glory.” Yet how do we regard the literally millions of Christians who, for their expression of faith and eternal hope in Jesus, are violently stripped of not only their possessions, but also of their dignity, or worse, one or more beloved members of their family.
According to the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., there are over 214 million refugees in the world today. Based on its 2010 statistics, 49 percent, or approximately 104 million of these refugees, are Christians. These dear Christian souls are forced to leave almost everything they need and cherish behind, not in search of a glistening sandy beach, but simply in order to survive another day.
In this month’s issue of The Voice of the Martyrs Canada publication, you’ll read stories of how several Iranian families have paid the ultimate price for their faith, and yet have willingly set aside their desires for earthly possessions in order to worship God and proclaim His Gospel to those who are spiritually in desperation. Thank you for praying for the ministry of VOMC, and for those of our faith whom we compassionately serve. May you know the beauty of God’s eternal peace and be touched by the witness of those whom we chronicle in this month’s issue.
- Doug
