Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer, behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelation 2:10
In January of 1945, Soviet Red Army troops arrested a Swedish diplomat at Sweden’s Embassy in Budapest. They took Raoul Wallenberg to a Soviet prison in Russia where is is reported to have died two years later. You have probably never heard of Raoul Wallenberg before, but he is regarded by Jews as one of the greatest heroes of the German holocaust. From the time he arrived in Budapest in July of 1944 until his arrest six months later, Wallenberg is credited with saving as many as 100,000 Jews from being killed by the Nazis. Wallenberg used his diplomatic status to issue ‘protective passports’ to thousands of Jews, identifying them as Swedish citizens, thereby preventing their deportation to death camps. He would often personally intervene to obtain the release of these passport bearers, including those with forged documents, from the Jews who were forced to march toward the Austrian-Hungarian border for deportation, saving as many lives as possible. He even rented more than 30 buildings to house about 10,000 Jewish refugees, putting up fake signs as ‘The Swedish Research Institute’ and hanging the Swedish flag to avoid detection. His great work placed him in danger and eventually cost him his life. That sometimes happens to Christians, too. But for faithful Christians, losing their lives is not a loss.
For all of his wonderful accomplishment, the most Wallenberg would receive, if he was not saved, was the knowledge that he was doing the right thing. He died unrewarded. Not so the faithful Christian. The crown of life, or martyr’s crown, is an eternal reward that is promised by the Lord Jesus Himself. This crown will endure forever as a token of the Lord’s appreciation to those who lay down their lives for Him. Down through the centuries and even today, countless martyrs have paid for their faith with their own blood. We are not among them, and probably will not be. Most of us will almost certainly die peacefully of natural causes. But we can still be faithful in the measure of service that our Lord presents.
Some people make a big show of being the target of persecution. Take the JWs for example; they revel in the scorn and abuse they receive for their pestering ways, and make a big deal of the animosity they experience for their misapplication of Scripture in such areas as blood transfusions, patriotism, and Christmas. God never calls us to suffer for such nonsense. But He does call for us to live holy lives in a world that is sinking rapidly into the destruction brought on by sin. He calls us to be honest, kind, and courteous in a world that knows little of those traits. He calls us to have a love and compassion for lost souls amid a population that has no care or interest in eternity. He calls for us to love and appreciate Him even as those around us write God off as irrelevant and unnecessary.
For all that our Lord has done for us, let us live for Him, despite the ignorance and apathy all around us. -Jim MacIntosh