Will you come in from the cold? Or die?

I walk about seven blocks to work each morning from my train stop. Today it was especially windy, cold and a bit wet. The wind is the worst part and as I walked briskly to my office building it occurred to me that if the predictions of Revelation that say “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. ” (Revelation 13:16-17 ESV) are literal then they are going to happen or have happened already.

What was on my mind was “Would I, as much as I hate the cold, be willing to live outside, be cold and be without shelter if it came to doing that rather than deny Christ?” And to be perfectly honest, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to bear it for long.

This brings to mind the suffering ana-baptists of the 16th century who suffered persecution and loss of all their worldly goods from the Roman church, some Reformation folk and their governments. These people ended up living communally in the woods and hardlyany shelter but what they made do with. They also shared everything they still possessed that they carried with them. And to top it off, they were considered rebels and were subject to arrest, imprisonment, and death without much more than a formality of a hearing.

One thing I notice a lot these days, including in me, is that we American Christians are far too fond of our pleasures, especially our comforts and our food. I am eating a bowl of my favorite ice cream while I write this and it makes me realize what a spiritual wimp I am, when it comes right down to it. I am not advocating an asceticism involving fasting or mistreating the body. But, I do believe that all of us are guilty, to one extent or another, of gluttony and lack of self control.

I thank God my preoccupation now is His Word, church history and the study of doctrine and theology. But, even in that I lack some self control, not always being obedient to the idea of getting the rest I need for the next day. But, I am glad that I am not in love with the things (toys, cars, sports, movies) of this world any more. And that is my greatest Ebenezer to the fact that I am a new creature in Christ.

That said, I am nowhere near the kind of believer and faithful servant I will need to be when and if (I think the when is much more likely) I am required to give up,the life of comfort for His Name’s sake. God help us all to be obedient, as Christ was, even unto death. He is worthy of that kind of faithfulness from us.

Grace and peace and especially Love from God to all my fellow believers.