True Martyrism (Modern Day Martyrism)

I started reading a book today about martyrs. It is called, "Martyrs" and it written by various authors.

I've only read the 1st chapter so far, it is an extremely deep book that I don't want to rush through, but rather let it sink in and I want time to digest it and think about what I've read. But I wanted to share a little bit of what I read, it really struck me, and I want my readers to read it also and spend some time thinking on it. The first chapter was written by: Susan Bergman.

To be a martyr you have to believe that something matters more than life.

"Martyr," who's root meaning is "witness," was first used in reference to early Christians who were put to death for their confessions of faith in one true God. These witnesses expressed not what they had seen with their eyes, but what they envisioned in their hearts. They endured their present suffering because of their confidence in God's ultimate reign on earth and the hope they placed in a heavenly lie to come. The term "Martyr" has expanded in modern day usage. The modern day definition in the simplest terms is for an individual to deny Christ and live...or confess him and die.

I was reading a story in this chapter, about a man named Polycarp (yikes!), who lived and served God for 86 years. During his 86th year, he was caught and was tied to a stake ready to be set on fire. One of his captors asked him one last time if he wanted to deny Christ and claim Caesar as his Lord, therefore living. Polycarp responded, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior." This story struck me as amazed. It's so true, how each of us can live for God and claim him as our King. He has never and will never do us any harm, yet in our day of trouble, we might be so easily ready to give him up to save our skin.

"The essential element in martyrdom, is not the physical act of dying but rather a disposition of the will to live for Christ, with the necessary corollary that, by a strange but wholly Christian paradox, living for Christ may involve the necessity to lay down one's life for him." ~Gerald Bonner~

"The true martyr, is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom." ~Thomas Becket~

If we are not called to this extremity of submission, we can at least recognize--in our own choices to persevere despite personal cost, to honor our beliefs in the contest with doubt--the significance of the daily, incremental decisions that influence who we become and how we behave.

Martyrem non facit poena, sed causa ... (The cause, not the suffering, makes genuine martyrs.) We can all be martyrs in some way. It doesn't have to be our death for Christ that makes us a martyr. Think about this for a few minutes...in what way, practically in our lives, can we each be martyrs for Christ?

If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow him. But if we lose our lives in his service and carry our cross, we shall find our lives again in the fellowship of the cross with Christ...to bear the cross proves to be the only way of triumphing over suffering. This is true for all who follow Christ, because it was true for Him...


He who wants to keep his soul will lose it. But he who loses it will find it. If we have died with Christ, we will also live with Him.

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to find his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:24-25

When such faith is involved, those who suffer are not "victims." Victims suffer loss, are injured, are massacred against their will. Martyrs choose this for their lives. They choose to live for God, knowing that their life could also end for God. This is their gain, an honor, their way to say thank-you...to die for Christ, as he once died for us. It's the least we can do.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Revelation 14:13

Though tortured, persecuted or stricken, the lives of His children are never wasted in God's sight.

"Christians, don't be caught off guard...when you are captured and imprisoned it will be too late to equip yourself to face the enemy with love. Practice today. Practice breathing so you are calm when you are questioned. Practice physical pain so that you don't betray your brothers or sisters when you are put to the test." ~Pastor Wurmbrand~

"I hope that you can find some consolidation from Christianity's affirmation that death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door that leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.~

While I have been writing on the physical death, likely none of us will be faced with that situation. Still...we can practically lay down our will for Christ. We can be martyrs for him in our every day life...what can we do?

No one is demanding us to deny what we believe...but have we denied ourselves? Living in conditions of privilege and safety that much of the world has never known? Do we daily take up our cross and live in order to follow Christ?

We will not be silent, this is the life we've chosen. The faith we life for and the faith we live by. How can we be martyrs for Christ in our daily lives?