Christian Martyrs

August 22

More Christians have died for their faith than followers of all other religions combined. While Christians make up a third of the world's population, they suffer 80 percent of its religious discrimination. More believers died for their faith in the 20th century than in the previous 19 centuries combined.

In John 15:18, 19 Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

In John 16:33 Jesus went on to say, “in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

He also said that He has spoken these things so we will have peace.

It’s not easy to have peace when the world around you seems to be teetering on self-destruction. It’s not easy to have peace when man’s inhumanity to man seems to be at a fever pitch. It’s not easy to have peace when the people of God seem to be the prime objects of the vitriol of the unbelieving world. But peace is what Jesus has promised to us, and peace is what we claim.

How can we claim peace when we live in a bellicose world? How can we have peace when airliners are shot out of the sky by warring factions on the ground? How can we have peace when an entire religious system believes it must subdue all other faiths under its control through bloodshed before their concept of peace can be realized? How can we have peace when cities vie for the title of ‘Murder Capital of the Country’?

It’s because Jesus says our peace isn’t dependent upon any of these things. In John 14:27, He said, “Peace I leave with you, MY peace I give to you; not as the world gives peace, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The peace Jesus gives to us is not contingent on the world. His peace comes from knowing Him and being set free from sin and death because of His propitiatory life, death, and resurrection. It is the peace David spoke of in our beloved Psalm 23.

Here the sweet psalmist said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yes, I may walk though the valley of the shadow of death, but I will fear no evil: for He is with me; His rod and His staff they comfort me. 5 He prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: He anoints my head with oil; my cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

We will not want for peace when peace is needful in our circumstances. Even if we must face death for our faith, we will have His comfort and His assurance that we are secure in the hollow of His hand. If we be like Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was stoned for His faith, we will be bold as he was and at the moment our life depart, we, like him, shall “…see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father,” Acts 7:55, 56, waiting to receive us to our eternal abode with Him!

May we be like Meriam Ibrahim who endured being chained in a dungeon rather than to abandon her faith in Jesus. She walked through “the valley of the shadow of death,” but she did not fear the evil men who persecuted her. She, like Stephen, had the peace that Jesus gives and that the world can’t take away.

May each of us cling to our faith, hold fast to our Jesus, so when the hard days of trial come, we shall be found secure in the hollow of Christ’s hand, holding fast to His peace.