Love Costs Everything

It feels like so long since I have written.  Hitting the keys and processing what I have been learning into words almost feels foreign.  I can't really explain why I haven't had the desire to sit down and mull through all that I have been learning, except that what I have been learning has been almost too precious and feels too close to share.  That was until this past week.

I just got back from a youth conference called Christ In Youth- or CIY.  We took 20 teenagers to the conference.  I have been on youth trips before, and I always get something out of the trips. The worship is usually amazing, and the speakers are entertaining, but this trip was something I never saw coming.  The theme for the week was " Love Costs Everything", well that was the theme that resonated with me.  We read stories about Daniel, Rahab, John the Baptist, and Josiah.  They were all faced with situations where following their faith could cost them their lives.  Their love for God was so great that they were willing to choose God over life on Earth.  Those stories were powerful, but nothing compared to the stories of the martyrs and the persecuted that were told over the next few days.

There are approx 100- 200 million Christians in our world being severely persecuted or killed for their faith.

"What if we weren’t allowed to have sanctuaries? What if there were no cathedrals? Would we still have a church?  This is a reality for nearly two hundred million Christians around the world. Daily, they risk their lives simply because they believe in Jesus. They could surrender, or convert, or quit but the love of Jesus is worth the sacrifice. For many of them, this road leads to death."- CIY MOVE

I watched story after story of people today who are faced with this question- Die and give up everything or continue to proclaim your faith in Jesus.  I watched story after story of men and women who boldly chose Jesus and paid with their lives and the lives of their families.  I watched the interviews of people who after just losing loved ones praised God for working through that painful situation. I watched a mother and her children literally proclaim the love and faithfulness of God as they scooped up the body of their father who had just been shot and put him into their car.  I watched the story of a man who baptized the three men who raped and beat his wife close to death. I heard a missionary speak of how he prayed and baptized the leader of an extremist group who tried to kill him and the missionaries with him.  I saw grace and forgiveness lived out on a scale that I cannot even imagine.  I saw a group of people so convinced of God's love for them and God's trustworthiness that they were willing to give everything, and not only to give everything, but to do it without doubt, question, anger, and with JOY.

Philippians 1: 21 "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Paul said this as he sat in prison.  I have never truly understood this verse.  Then I saw this verse lived out.  I heard a man who was about to die say this verse.  He meant every word.  He understood that to live for Christ is great, but to die for Christ and to be with God in Heaven is even better, especially when over 200 people come to know the Lord at your funeral, as the people in Columbia did at this man's funeral.

Love Costs Everything.  Being a Christians has a steep cost for most of the people in this world.  What does it cost those of us here in America?  We allow our religious freedom to lull us into a lazy stupor.  We take for granted that there is a church on every corner and we choose to sleep in on Sunday mornings.  We neglect to read daily the word of God, when there are 12 Bible's in our homes.  We don't share the love of Christ with others, even though most likely we won't be taking a bullet for it, but maybe only risking a roll of someone's eyes.  Our religious freedom in the United States has caused us to take God for granted.  Love Costs Everything.  What is it costing me?  It should cost me something.  What value is there in something that costs nothing?  If we are given something for free and lose it, it doesn't bother us, but if we spend our hard earned money on something and lose it, then we are upset.  Living as a believer should cost you something.  It cost Jesus His life!  He gave his everything because He loved us. What are you giving?

It should cost us our finances, our time, our comfort, our devotion, our life plans, our everything belongs to Christ. I was wrecked by my laziness, apathy, pitiful complaints of how "hard" life is. I repented with weeping after watching true faith played out on the video screens.  I will not allow the freedom we have here to lull me into going through the motions of faith, and not giving everything.  I am so thankful to worship a God who deserves everything.  I am overwhelmed by a love that cost him everything.  I want to give Him my everything.  I am broken for the Christians of this world who are murdered and beaten daily just because of what they believe. I am ashamed that I had no idea what most of them were going through.  I am sad to say that until this past week I thought little of the Christians outside of my world, and prayed even less. I am committed to praying with a larger world view now.  I don't want to forget what others are sacrificing for their faith.

Join me.  Pray for those in Iraq, India, Columbia, North Korea, and all over who are giving their everything to see people come to know Christ.  Don't allow our religious freedom to really put us in the prison of laziness and apathy.  Open your Bible daily, consume the word the way these people do, like it might be your last chance.  Go to church and become a part of the body who serves, like these people do, because their life literally depends on it. Trust God and love God with all that you are, the way these people do because you are convinced without a shadow of a doubt that HE IS WORTHY.

May love cost us everything.
http://2011.ciy.com/move/lovecostseverything