For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — Philippians 1:21
Sophie Scholl was a young German woman during the 1940s. She saw the deterioration of her country under the iron rule of the Nazi regime, and she determined to make a difference. She and her brother, with a small group of friends, began to peacefully protest not only the actions but the values that the Nazis had forced upon the nation.
Sophie and others were arrested and executed for speaking out against the evil in their land. Although she wasn’t anxious to die, she saw that the conditions in her country had to be addressed — even if it meant her death.
Sophie’s story raises a critical question for us as well. What would we be willing to die for? Jim Elliot, Nate Sain, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Ed McCully gave their lives in the jungles of South America because they were committed to spreading the gospel. Elliot revealed the heart that drove such sacrifice when he wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” The apostle Paul put it this way: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
Some things really are worth dying for — and in them we gain the reward of the One who declares, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21, 23). — Bill Crowder
Forbid it, Lord, that I should be
Afraid of persecution’s frown;
For You have promised faithful ones
That they shall wear the victor’s crown. — Bosch
READ: Philippians 1:21
Those who faithfully bear the cross in this life will wear the crown in the life to come.
The Bible in one year:
• Isaiah 23-25
• Philippians 1