How many of us will be martyrs for Christ in 2007?
Of course I'm not talking about the looking-for-a-glorifying- death definition of the word.
The word witness is marturia, whose definition is what one testifies, testimony, i.e. before a judge (Strong's 3141)
John the Baptist was sent by God for a specific ministry: "He came as a witness to testify concerning that light (Jesus), so that through him all men might believe." (John 1:7) The word martyr comes from that word "witness". John came for a specific purpose: to present the truths about the Lamb who was to come. He was obsessed with getting the message out. He had a purpose. He had a goal.
He had a life.
I was just talking with a young person who was mired in, well, nothing. That was the problem: he was settling for mediocrity. I asked him if he had any higher goals in life. What was his desire in pleasing God? What did he want to be doing 12 years from now? How would he set up his household to please Christ?
He had no answer. His life was one of text messaging, iPods and Playstation games. In other words, his life was an innner sanctum of mediocrity. He was not stretching out. He was not trying to witness.
Dwell on the Greek meaning of "martyr" and ask yourself whether you are ready to be a day to day martyr for Jesus Christ.
