To Die Is “GAIN”…

“Let us also go that we may die with Him”… I dare you to quote the bible book, chapter and verse these words were gotten from. Words spoken by a disciple of Jesus known as Thomas (called Didymus), lost in the intricacy of the miraculous story it was a part of.

It is a statement of faith, belief and abandonment of will, made by a man who understood what it meant to live his life for God.

From the gospel of John, at various points the Jews tried to kill Jesus but couldn’t because his time had not yet come – this statement was made when Jesus informed His disciples that he was going to Judea because of Lazarus (JOHN 11:1-16) when only a short while ago, the Jews of Judea had tried to stone the Lord to death (JOHN 10:31,39).

How amazing it is to think of a man willing to, and encouraging his fellows to follow the Lord all the way. Not sure if they were going to survive, but willing and ready to go wherever the Lord willed them to. I can’t help but remember the three Hebrew boys “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego” who would rather burn than sin against their God (DANIEL 3:1-18). Again, it was a scenario of God’s will being done.

Of course, the disciples witnessed the raising of a dead man and were not killed, the three boys came out of the furnace unscathed – convincing the king of the power of God. However, all were willing to lay down their lives to follow the master. They all counted it gain to die for Christ. Before you continue to entertain thoughts of their deaths not being certain, the deaths of Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego were certain. Even Paul, who had foreknowledge of disaster befalling him went on to follow God till his end (ACTS 21:10-3).

Where are the Christians who would rather die with and for God than live a life without God? Those who are able to stand up tall and say “…but even if He doesn’t save or rescue us, we will not sin against God” (paraphrasing the words of the three Hebrew boys). Today, we find it hard to stand with the truth at the cost of a little punishment or things like being “uncool”, or even death in itself. Will we be ready to stand up for the truth at the cost of our lives?

For all our professions of “I surrender all”, “this world is not my own” and the like, would we in the face of death or faced with certain peril, profess our God and show our willingness to lay it all down and follow him? When it is required of us, will we with joyful hearts and light springing steps proclaim “to die is gain” or will we tuck our tails and run faster than our shadows can keep up?

The choice is yours…