WHAT CAN YOU DIE FOR?
“It seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 15:25-26 NKJV)
During the Jews’ seventy-year exile in Babylon, Haman wittingly plotted to exterminate all the Jews in Babylon and all its provinces on a set date. He maneuvered to get King Ahasuerus’ approval.
Therefore, a decree was written according to all that Haman had wished and commanded in the king’s name and then sealed with the king’s signet ring.
Afterward, “the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.” (Esther 3:13 NKJV).
When the Jews got the news of Haman’s evil plot against them, they all began to mourn, weep, and fast, laying in sackcloth and ashes in every province where the king’s decree was read.
But unknowing to them, God had already put everything in place to thwart and defeat Haman’s plot and to preserve and protect His people.
Job testifies that God knows how to frustrate the devices of the crafty.
Job 5:12-13 – NKJV
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them.
Likewise, many believers today are greatly afraid, agitated, or troubled about the evil plans or plots of the wicked against them and their loved ones because they are ignorant of God’s faithfulness and commitment to protect and preserve His children.
The Psalmist testifies to God’s faithfulness to protect His children.
Psalms 121:1-5 – NKJV
1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills-From whence comes my help?
2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
If you know and believe this truth, you will not fret yourself because of evildoers!
At first, Queen Esther did not realize that she was God’s chosen instrument of deliverance and preservation of her people in Babylon.
When Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, instructed her to go into the king’s inner court to plead for the revocation of the written decree for the destruction of the Jews according to Haman’s evil plot, Esther was unwilling to risk or endanger her life for it was an offense punishable by death for anyone to go into the inner court of the king unless the person was invited.
Until Esther discovered her divine purpose of being in the palace, she was full of excuses, and she was terrified of risking or losing her life or crown.
Esther 4:10-12 – NKJV
10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai:
11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.”
12 So they told Mordecai Esther’s words.
Until you also discover your purpose in life, you will never cease to fear and find excuses in life!
However, when it eventually dawned upon Esther that she was divinely and strategically placed in the palace for the deliverance of her people and to preserve a posterity for them, the fear of death lost her grip on her soul, and she was willing to sacrifice her life, if need be, for the deliverance of her people and thus fulfill her God-given purpose in life.
Esther 4:15-17 – NKJV
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai:
16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!
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17 So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him.
With these words on Esther’s lips: “If I perish, I perish,” she arose and dared death by entering the inner court to see the king when she was not invited, contrary to the Babylonian law.
But rather than finding death, Esther found favor and life in the sight of the king. “And the king said to her, “What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom!” (Esther 5:2-3 NKJV). Hallelujah!
Eventually, the evil decree was revoked, the Jews were preserved, and Haman and all the enemies of the Jews were destroyed (Esther 9:1-5). That happened because Esther dared death to fulfill her divine calling and purpose in life.
Like Esther, the early disciples of Christ were known as “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 15:26).
Having discovered their true calling and purpose in Christ, nothing was strong enough to stand in their path of accomplishing God’s purpose, not even the threat of death or persecution.
When they were severely threatened and commanded to stop preaching or teaching in the name of Jesus, their prompt response was: “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20 NKJV).
They were willing to die for the cause and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What about you?
Although Apostle Paul knew that chains and tribulations awaited him in Jerusalem, he embraced it with joy to fulfill the ministry he had received from the Lord Jesus.
Acts 20:24 – NKJV
24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Without this kind of mindset, you cannot finish your race with joy or fulfill your purpose or ministry in life!
Beloved, like Esther and the early apostles of Christ, when you truly discover God’s purpose for your life, you will gladly risk your life to see it accomplished.
If you have not found a cause, calling, or purpose you can die for, if need be, then you have not indeed found something worth living for!
Anything that is not worth dying for is not truly worth living for!
What would you gladly risk your life or die for in life, if need be?
If it is a material, temporary or transitory thing, or something without any eternal value, it certainly does not worth it!
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, today I receive the courage and boldness it takes to dare death in the pursuit of my divine calling and purpose in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.