The Death of a Thing

Hearts of stone grip many a North American pew, a truth that grieves my heart. Fruitless pining for the world, for power, for selfish gain. The prince of the air is cooing his pretty lullaby.

Amid such sorrow, God is working on behalf of his people. As he does, persecution is seeping closer, a slowly spilling inkwell swirling into the Western World.

This is good. Painful, startling, but deeply good. In time, it will reveal whose names are etched in the book of life.

So as this spiritual oppression inches closer, I must ask:

Are you ready?

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The truth:

Not everyone who claims Christ is a Christian.

This is a hard pill to gulp.

The words of Jesus: Depart from me I never knew you.

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I watched three Heartcry videos recently, Pure and Undefiled, showing the life of believers in Cambodia.

As they gathered for church their eyes danced. It was exciting to see the Bible held high–wielded to teach, correct, admonish, and comfort– the Scriptures cradled by a people honoring and treasuring its pages. The congregation knelt in prayer, sang truth, listened intently as their pastor preached, and smiled as they learned.

Unity abounded, and it was beautiful.

As the documentary continued, I also witnessed death.

A Christian stood with his family in the swampy streets and set fire to his Buddhist paraphernalia. His face was the sun–glowing, broad, radiant.

This scene was the death of a thing, a good and holy torch, proof of the regenerated heart that now firmly beat inside his chest.

It is estimated that some 96% of Cambodians are Buddhist, with less than 2% of the nation claiming to be Christians.

Those sweet few are a people on fire. Genuine repenters.

Persecution often serves to separate the redeemed from the world.

Threshing does that.

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The question circles: what will I do to serve God with my one, precious life?

I am asking God to use my writing to disrupt and disturb the hard of heart, the lackadaisical, and the false converts, prayerfully rousing sleepy souls to life.

I was once a sleepy soul, and I see the peril.

American ground is terribly hard soil, with its unbridled wealth, soft teaching, false teaching, bucket-list living, and this relentless, pathetic mantra: do whatever seems right for you.

To swim against this deathly stream without drowning takes repentance, prayer, steadfastness in Scripture, and a reverent fear of God, not man.

Plus grit.

It is helpful to think of it like this:

To devoutly prepare for spiritual persecution is to embrace the death of a thing, stabbing a dagger in personal agendas, platforms, and highly “acceptable” sins that gut and ravage the inner man. Remember, while the Holy Spirit comes to breathe life into the soul and death into the flesh, Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He’s a fire-breathing dragon blowing death into the soul and life into the flesh.

So if you are forever busy living a nice, comfortable life, gratifying and serving yourself, while sprinkling a few cherry-picked Bible verses–Abracadabra!— over your head and still claiming to be a Christian, please stop taking God’s name in vain.

Such a life is not the true fruit of a ransomed and redeemed heart.

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I close my eyes right now and all I can see is that Cambodian family: alive in Christ, poor in wealth yet rich in obedience, joyfully burning all idols.

The death of sin leads to a surrendered life. Not a perfect life, mind you, but one of holy pursuit.

Repentance and godly fruit-bearing are proof positive of the death of a thing.

The death of a stony heart.

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