Thursday's Thoughts- Would You Stand?

Would You Stand?

I have a very important question for you. Would you stand? This sounds like a simple inquiry, but it just may prove to be one of the most difficult ones you will ever be asked. What if you are sitting in church Sunday morning and suddenly masked men burst through the door holding rifles? Imagine that the leader announces that anyone who doesn't deny Christ will be shot. Maybe half the church chooses to denounce God and leave, but will you? Will the threat of death turn you away from your faith? Let me tell you about three men in the Bible who let absolutely nothing get in the way of their faith. 

Travel back to the Old Testament with me and see a man who set his faith in God. His name was Noah. God told Noah to build an ark because He was going to send rain to flood the whole earth. Any other man would have laughed because, up until that time, it had never rained before, but Noah and his sons got right to work. For years they labored while their friends and neighbors laughed at them, Through the laughter and scorn, Noah's faith did not falter and the end result was that he, his family, and the animals were saved from a worldwide flood that destroyed everyone else.

Now, I urge you to observe Job. Here is a man who lost everything: his cattle, his servants and his children. Job was covered from head to toe with boils and his wife told him to curse God and die, but he refused. Instead, in Job 2:10, he answered, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." Job understood that sometimes God sends trials to try and strengthen our faith. He stood for his faith and received double the cattle and servants as he had before and ten more children.

Jump to the New Testament where we read about a man of great faith. Paul faced many trials and tribulations but he never lost sight of his faith. I am talking about a man who was mocked, threatened, imprisoned and even stoned for believing and preaching God's Word. He too understood that God would bring him through all the trials. Even in prison he had enough faith to sing praises to God and stand for his beliefs. 

The Bible tells us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we shall be able to say unto a mountain, "Be thou removed and cast into the sea," and it will happen. Time and time again, the Bible shows us that if we have faith in God, He will protect us. If we die because we stand for Christ, then we will be rewarded in Heaven. Paul told the Philippians "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21. In dying for Christ, we gain an eternal life with him.

So I ask you again, Christian. If it came down to a choice between denying our Lord and Savior and living, or denying the world and therefore receiving death, which you choose? Would you, in faith, proclaim the Lord even with your dying breath?