Are we really ready to die for the ONE who died for us?

The two thousand member church was filled to overflowing capacity one Sunday morning. The preacher was ready to start the sermon when two men, dressed in long black coats and black hats entered through the rear of the church.

One of the two men walked to the middle of the church while the other stayed at the back of the church. They both then reached under their coats and withdrew automatic weapons.

The one in the middle announced, "Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus stay in your seats!"

Naturally, the pews emptied, followed by the choir. The deacons ran out the door, followed by the choir director and the assistant pastor.

After a few moments, there were about twenty people left sitting in the church. The preacher was holding steady in the pulpit.

The men put their weapons away and said, gently, to the preacher, "All right, pastor, the hypocrites are gone now. You may begin the service."

Funny! Isn't it. I read this joke on Willing to take a bullet for Jesus? and I rolled with laughter. Once that feeling subsided I read it again. And I began wondering, it is funny, and it is true. If I were one of the members attending mass that day, I would have been one of the first people to run away.

It is so easy to sing 'All to Jesus I surrender', and so very difficult to do so. We all seem to forget that we have been called here as soldiers, we are in the midst of an age old spiritual warfare. Our Christian people of today seem to lack the warrior like qualities, we do not wont to give anything up for Christ, we do not want to suffer for Christ, we do not want to fight for Christ, and we do not want to die for the One who died for us even before we were born.

As it is said in 1 Timothy 6:12 - "Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." How can we sit and do nothing when war is upon us?


We are all called to be soldiers, every day is a battle against Satan and his principalities, every living moment of our lives we need to fight against the false rules and laws of this world, against the evil and sinful thoughts cropping up in our minds ever so often, against the temptations that come in so many various forms, against the act of justifying our shortfalls, against our own human nature so that we can 'take hold of the eternal life to which we are called'.

Now, when I say 'die for Jesus' I don't mean go literally to a war torn country to become a martyr, though that day might soon come to see us. What I mean is that we need to carry forward the battle, death for us is no longer something bad or something to be scared of, death now holds a totally new meaning. By the death of Our Lord on the cross, he has regained for us the eternal life that was lost on account of Adam's sin.


We need to stand for truth, for justice, for peace, for all the righteous causes, against all the wrong notions. We need to follow Jesus, take His road, follow His footsteps. Yes His road leads to the eventual death, but that is not the end of the road, there is a life, beyond the confines of the world. Pursue it, fight for it, die for it.

The battle is on soldier, march forth to Victory!