Living, Dying

You may be prepared to die for truth, but are you prepared to LIVE for it?

For me to LIVE is CHRIST, to DIE is GAIN. -Phi 1:21

So far, whenever this verse i have heard is used to say that christians have something to look forward to, namely eternal life in Christ. And i totally believe that.

Now I challenge every Christian. To those who are living a life redeemed by Christ, I ask if you are willing to LIVE for the truth.

Living for the truth is very different from knowing, believing and trusting the truth. Living for the truth means you have to fight for it, have to go against the societal rules for it. Living for the truth means you WILL conflict with others, you WILL suffer persecutions. You WILL find that the world does not accept that.

Truth by nature is exclusive. People who try to say that Christianity is the same as buddhism, or every religion is the same, let me correct you. No TWO religions are the same, just as no two days are the same. Religions may have one God (Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, Muslim), Many Gods (Hinduism) No Gods (Buddhism- to my knowledge, Buddhism is a religion. I know my friends state that it is a philosophy, unfortunately, we do not remember Socrates, Descartes nor Plato in the same way as we do Buddha. Furthermore, According to Ven. Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, Every man Must have a religion)

Truth by nature is exclusive. If Jesus says He IS THE WAY and it is truth, then there is no other way. Does not matter how much good you do, which God you believe in, then he is the ONLY way. If Buddha is right and the only way to Nirvana is through the eight fold path, then well, christians will be on earth a very long time, but then so will the muslims and the hindus. If the Muslims Claim that they are the way, then every other religion, faith system, believe methodology is wrong. Truth is exclusive.

Don't get me wrong, I know many Muslims from whom i could learn a lot about life from. Same to buddhist and there are christians who are fallen. Men do not make up the religion, though they certainly represent it. We cannot allow experiences or encounters with people of a certain faith to cloud our judgement. Islam is so much more than Jihad, and to be honest, Muslims tend to have (in my opinion) the strongest family bonds in Singapore. I am sure that there is some causality in that.

But that is a digression that went too far. The point of this post is simple. If i am a christian, and I am, and if i believe God is the Way the Truth, the Life, do i dare to live for it? To be honest, asking me to die for the gospel, grotesque and painful as it may sound, i think i will be able to do it. Asking me to suffer for the gospel, now that is a different story.

Christianity is about blessing yes (For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope - Jer29:11) but which of Jesus's friends, the Disciples, ever enjoyed life? Peter, the stone on which the catholic church is built on was crucified upside down. John, the disciple Jesus loved was exiled. Paul writes of stonning, prisonment etc etc, exactly what future and hope? But the one thing Jesus promises is Persecutions will come. We will be rejected. We will suffer.

Now i ask myself, am i willing to suffer for the gospel? Am i willing to live a life of WILD ABANDON to God??