Wednesday: The Hardest Call

"For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again."     Phillipians 1:19-26

Many times we read stories about people who have been asked whether or not they are a Christian while staring down the barrel of a gun. So many people have died because they would not deny Christ. Now these are stories that when we read we later put ourselves in their shoes and think about how we would respond. It is something that I feel would be difficult to do knowing I was going to die, but in all honesty, I having nothing to loose for there is a better life awaiting me in heave. The real question is not will you die for Christ, rather will you live for Christ? It is much harder for us to live for Christ, walking in His footsteps and pleasing God then it is to simply stand for Him at the end of a gun barrel. I'm not in any way diminishing the courage it takes to die for Christ, but in all honesty if you truly believe that God is your Savor, He is in control and you have eternal life then this should be a no brainer, think about it. What reason would you ever have to deny Christ other then you do not actually have faith in Him. Paul says in Phillipians 1:21 "for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Death is not something Paul is worried about because to be absent from the body is to be present with God. The real challenge is living for Christ because we are constantly under trails, temptation and persecution. It is hard sometimes to remain faithful to what God has called you to do when times are tough. Just something to think about. Let me know your thoughts on this.
Is it harder to live or die for Christ? Why?

Remember: "The real question is not will you die for Christ, rather will you live for Christ?"
_