Acts 20:24 “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

This is the heart of every fully-committed servant of Jesus Christ. We allow so many things to take priority over being witnesses for Him, and we are much the poorer for it. We have seen this attitude in action recently, as 21 Egyptian Christians cried out to Jesus just before they were beheaded simply for being Christians. Their reward is great indeed! We tend to run from anything that might so much as put us in a bad light socially (or so we think), forgetting all that Jesus endured to provide salvation to us. The movie The Passion of the Christ was important because it showed not just the fact of Jesus’ crucifixion, but the horrible brutality He endured even before He was nailed to the cross. When He endured that for us, why do we complain about the little things that get under our skin? The pace of martyrdom has really picked up, with more dying for the name of Jesus in the 20th Century than in the previous 19 combined, and the figure for the 21st looking to be higher still. Every believer alive today is being called to Paul’s level of commitment, whether we face the knife – or the bullet or the flames – directly or not.

I earnestly desire to have this sort of commitment, but it’s not something I can work up. Rather, it’s something I can decide, and allow God to work in me. I see evidence of it in my life, which is encouraging, but I also see areas in which I’m not there yet, which keeps me humble. I have no particular desire to be martyred as such – and I certainly have no fondness for pain – but I want more than anything to hear my Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21, 23) For that, I’ve got to be careful of the little things, not sloughing off or being lazy but taking each task in turn and fulfilling it with all I’ve got, which He put in me in the first place. There are constant temptations of all sorts, some that I recognize and some that I don’t. I am to be absolutely single-minded in my obedience to my Lord, knowing that if I seek Him and His righteousness first, that He will add to that everything I need and more. (Matthew 6:33)

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the magnificent example of my Egyptian brothers. Thank You for the faith of their families as well. Help me, like them, not value anything ahead or above obedience to You, even my life, so that all of Your purposes for me may be fulfilled, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!