Today's Devotional

January 19, 2005

Subject:  The Price We Must Pay

Hebrews 11:37 - "Some were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. Some were poor, abused, and mistreated."

Listen to the words of John Stewart Mill  

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing that is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

This was another lesson that MLK learned well.  He knew that change could only be brought about by sacrifice and to some that meant the sacrifice of their lives.  In Martin's foreshadowing of his own death on the night before he was slain, he stated, that he would "like to live long because longevity has it's place."  However, he went on to say, "it doesn't really matter to me now because I've been to the mountain top and God has allowed me to look over... and I might not get there with you... but mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Is there anything that you're willing to sacrifice for?  Anything that you're willing to pay for with the sacrifice of even your life?  Many martyrs of the faith have done just that for the cause of Christ.  God doesn't necessarily ask us to give our lives physically, but He does ask us to be a living sacrifice.  That in itself consists of death.  For to live to God we must die to self.  In either case, death is the price that we must pay.  

Carlen