She Said Yes! (Colossians 1)
Colossians 1.10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God [niv]On 20th April 1999, Cassie Bernall, a junior at Columbine High in Littleton Colorado, was a typical teenager having a typical day, when a couple of her classmates trained a gun on her head and asked if she believed in God. She said "Yes". Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold pulled the trigger and shot her in the head. They went on to kill another 12 students and a teacher and injured 26 others before turning the gun on themselves.
Christians all around the world were impacted by the news of Cassie's death, with many calling her a modern day martyr. In the wake of the Columbine shootings, many Christian teens began asking themselves tough questions like, "What if it were me?" Many saw the possibility of dying for Christ as attractive. The idea of martyrdom became popular.
Helping this along were merchandisers who saw this as a great business opportunity. Cassie's last words, "Yes, I believe" have been immortalized on everything from key chains and t-shirts, to bracelets and coffee mugs.
While I stand in awe of those who have laid down their life for the Gospel of Christ, we need to be careful not to turn martyrdom into something that it isn't. Yes, dying for Christ is an honour, but so is living for Him. I think dying is easy, it's faithfully living for Him, day after day which is a harder thing to do. In fact the most amazing thing to me about Cassie's story, wasn't how she died but rather how she lived.
May we live a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him in every good work and growing in the knowledge of Him.
4 comments:
Yes good point. Dying is a one time thing whereas living for Christ is an everyday thing with choices to be made that are sometimes really hard.
Col 1:19 "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell"
I am sitting in India on a day when most of the country is celebrating a festival to worship another God. This morning I felt so sad for God because I began to imagine the pain He must be in for His people to reject Him so openly. I soon started to realise however that even though this rejection is blindingly obvious, we all reject God in small ways each day. When we choose not to spend time with Him because we are distracted by the trappings of the world, we are in a sense rejecting Him. God loves to spend time with us and for us to just be in His presence. It brings Him Joy to see us gaining fulfillment in Him. I think we complicate things too much sometimes and think it is an effort to pray or read our bible and that it is going to be hard work and challenging all the time. When we are stressed we often turn away from God seeking rest and fulfillment elsewhere. But, God knows where we are at and He wants to be our everything.. Including our rest and our joy!
Colossians 1:10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Walking worthy of the Lord and then do this by fully pleasing Him. Our every thought and action should be in conscious obedience to God as we praise Him and glorify Him. We do this by being fruitful, that is productive, successful, earnest and true in all the good works we do. It is only through our good works that we can produce the fruits or benefits of our actions. These works are not for our personal benefit but for the benefit of others for this is how we please Him and bring glory to His name.
As we grow in our efforts so we also gain greater knowledge of God, as we grow in knowledge so we grow in understanding and this leads to wisdom through Him. As we gain this knowledge we are even better equipped to do good works. The more good works we do the greater our understanding. God leads us on an ever increasing, forward and upward pathway. We are able to walk with God and that walk becomes more worthy as we increase our good works and knowledge. A great journey that never ends and one which we can share with others as we increase our good works.
Colossians 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
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