Inspiration

As of lately, I have been reading Foxe's Book of Martyrs. I am sure that most of you that have read that book know how absolutely saddening it is to read, yet how it can be just such an inspiration. I have not yet turned the last page of this book, but have felt so inspired by the reading of the pages that I have read, that I would like to share with you all my thoughts that have come to me as I have read this book. These thoughts have come to me occasionally, but never before with such intensity as they have come with reading this book. I am not ashamed in anyway whatsoever to say that I have cried more than once while reading this book. Never before have I read a book that has left my heart so broken in two. When reading in detail the tortures that many brothers and sisters in Christ underwent for their faith--our faith--my heart would break, as it still does. These tortures were not just any tortures, they were horrifying tortures. Tortures that no human being, especially a child of God, should have to undergo. I would consider myself blessed to just have been beheaded, rather than having to go through the horrific torture in which Christians had to go through for their faith. Yet here comes the inspiring part; the part above all else that made the tears fall from my eyes when reading this book: they never gave in, they never stopped loving God, they never asked Him why they had to suffer so much for believing in Him, they endured all of it with much fortitude, they died ready to be with their Savior. While this book is heart-breaking to read, it is worth it. The level of inspiration that I have obtained from this book is beyond anything I've ever gained when reading a book (other than the Bible).

One of the stories that has lept out at me amongst all the others in the book was a story of a 15 year old boy. 15 years old. This young man was being tortured for being a Christian. Again, he was just 15 years old; younger than I. He endured torture and was in the end martyred, for he would not let go of his faith. He would not utter one word that denied His belief in Christ Jesus. That was very powerful for me to read. So many young men at that age nowadays are so absorbed in themselves that it is disturbing. I often times wonder what those young men would think when hearing of another young man their age being put to death because of a belief that he held so strongly; a Love that he could not deny; a God that he would not forsake. One story was of a man, who upon hearing that a sister in the faith was going to be handed over to the "brutality of lust" (as John Foxe put it), took measures to remove her from such a punishment to save her purity and keep her from the torture into which she was going to enter. Because of the measures he took, and because of helping the woman escape, he was soon found out to be a Christian, and was given the punishment of death. When the woman heard of his punishment for helping her, she went back. She begged that the punishment be given to her, rather than the man that saved her from her punishment. In the end, they were both beheaded and thrown into the fire. I look at that story and am really just amazed. The actions from both the man and the woman (but particularly the woman) was powerful to read. I look at that man and what he did for his sister in the faith and ask myself this: How many men of this world would be willing to do what he did for his sister in Christ? Not many. How many women of this world, even, would do what the woman in that story did when hearing about her brother in Christ's punishment for helping her? Not many. We can all gain so much at just reading the stories of these incredible brothers and sisters in Christ. We can be inspired in so many ways.

The thought that has kept on coming to me while reading this book, while reading of the various tortures in which our brothers and sisters in Christ underwent, is this: Could I do that? Could I? Could you? I have found myself starting to pray that God would give me the strength in Him that I will need if I were to ever undergo any sort of torture for His name. I pray that if I ever have to undergo it, that He would be my strength, my endurance, and my joy. My flesh cowers at the thought of there ever being a possibility; my flesh tells me that I cannot, yet I know with my God as my strength I can. And that is what I must rest in. I don't want to ever cower at such a possibility, but rather be courageous in my Lord, to be able to look at that possibility and say, "Lord, if that time comes I will be ready, for You will be my strength and my endurance. May Your name be glorified."