The Main Thing.

A few weeks ago I heard a story about a man somewhere in India this year that was murdered because he called on Christ as his Savior. He was attacked after watching his mother-in-law doused in gasoline burn alive. She also was Christian. His young wife and children fled to the forest where they heard daddy scream as each of his fingers were broken one after the other while the attackers demanded him to renounce his faith. He refused to deny Christ and was buried alive after his fingers, arms and legs were broken.

His widow was quoted saying,"But God is alive, and I am surviving only through him... I just want my story to be a testimony to the love of Christ."

Dear sweet widow, you are a testimony to the love of Christ.

Here I sit. Typing on a computer in my comfortable jeans after eating left-over pizza. I ran for fun this morning. I mulled over what to make for dinner and scheduled my weekend plans. I casually mentioned to a friend today that I'd pray for her. Later today I'll drive across the street to a beautiful air conditioned church building to decorate my bible class for the next quarter with the materials provided by the church education department. I'll laminate the summer bible home-schooling material for my kids. I'll finish the laundry where I will most definitely fold countless Christian t-shirts for my youth minister husband.

I don't know why God put me here. I don't know why I have the luxury to get fat on an abundance of food. I don't know why I have the freedom to have bible studies with my friends and my family. I don't know why I'm here, and that widow is not. I do know, that I wouldn't have the graceful words that she had after experiencing the loss of her mother and her beloved husband.

I changed after hearing this story.

All of our wants and petty grievances fade when we truly recognize how great we have it. How absolutely spoiled rotten we are!

We are weak. We can't even commit our schedules to Christ. We are so busy justifying our escape from commitment. We are, however, very committed to ourselves. We struggle to appreciate our own community of believers. We prioritize all of our life and forget about the most important things...the main thing.

I admire this widow. She still believes despite all. She gets it. She knows the main thing is Christ and nothing else. How much we would confuse her as we struggle for more things, more self, and ignore masses who need the Lord.

This verse echoed in my mind when I look around to see my abundance and my freedom:

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48

May I ever strive to serve the Lord of whom I profess to love. May I ever strive to be Christ to the world.

There are many more stories like this one believe it or not. You can find them on the Voice of the Martyrs website.