Life— all life, no matter how poor, infirm, unborn, or limited—is a great gift. We should never be in a hurry to foolishly risk it. The same can be said for professional success, or even just the good of earning a decent living and providing for a family. Silence and avoiding situations that force us to state our convictions can sometimes be the prudent course of action. Too often we censor or contort ourselves to fit into what we perceive as approved behavior or thought.
We muffle our Christian beliefs to avoid being the targets of contempt. Over time, a legitimate exercise of prudence can very easily become a degrading habit; a habit that soils the soul. No woman of integrity betrays her convictions. Mouthing lies we do not believe kills us inwardly. Even silence, which is sometimes prudent, can poison our integrity if it becomes a long-term policy. Jesus urges us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The self-love proper for a Christian includes the love of personal honor, the kind that comes from living with integrity in a world that would have us betray our convictions. Family, friends, honor, and integrity: These are natural loves. Throughout history, men and women have been willing to die for these loves.
As Christians, though, we claim to be animated—first and foremost—by a supernatural love: love for God as our Creator and Jesus Christ as his Son.
Polycarp, for all his caution and prudence, eventually did choose martyrdom rather than repudiate his Christian faith. The issue at hand is this: Are we really willing to do the same; and if so, how must we live in a way that proves it?
Right now Christians in many countries around the world are facing the choice of Jesus Christ or death. Last year the German novelist Martin Mosebach published an account of the 21 migrant workers in Libya who were kidnapped by Muslim extremists and executed for their faith.
Twenty were Coptic Christians from Egypt. One was another African who refused to separate himself from his brothers in the faith. The murder of those 21 Christians is captured on video. Put frankly, the martyrs, both ancient and modern, frighten us as much as they inspire us. And maybe this reaction makes perfect sense.
Fear of martyrdom is the beginning of an honest appraisal of our spiritual mediocrity. So I think we should consider this fear for a moment, rather than repressing it, as we so often do. The Christian men beheaded on the Libyan beach are not really so remote from us. The worry we naturally feel, that we might fail a similar test, is a concrete and urgent version of the anxiety we rightly feel when we think about coming before the judgment of God. Many of us have trouble following even the minimal norms of a Catholic life: regular confession and Mass attendance, kindness to others, and a few minutes of daily prayer.
If those very simple things are struggles, how can we possibly have the spiritual strength to face martyrdom? Or the judgment of a just God? For this reason, the martyrs do not bear witness to the spiritual athleticism of remarkable men and women. Instead, they point to the relentless love of God in Jesus Christ. As the Preface for Holy Martyrs reads:.
For you [God] are glorified when your saints are praised; their very sufferings are but wonders of your might: In your mercy you give ardor to their faith, to their endurance you grant firm resolve, and in their struggle the victory is yours, through Christ our Lord.
Grace illuminates nature. The supernatural love of God in Jesus Christ that gives courage to the martyrs helps us better understand the natural loves of family, friends, honor, and integrity. The mother does not conjure a love for her child out of her inner emotional resources.
The same holds true for friends, honor, and integrity. It comes from what is loved, not the one who loves. For many of us, the entire globe is open to travel. To a degree unimaginable in earlier generations, many of us can choose our own path in life or even reinvent our identity.
We float in a fluid world of limitless choice. This can seem like a blessing, but it often turns out to be a curse. The most fundamental feature of our era is that it weakens bonds, curves us in upon ourselves, and seduces us to live without love.
Subscribe Sign In. Continue reading your article with a WSJ membership. Resume Subscription We are delighted that you'd like to resume your subscription. Please click confirm to resume now. Sponsored Offers. Most Popular News. Most Popular Opinion. Most Popular Videos. If there are things worth dying for, then what does that tell us about how we should live before dying? That is, does it make sense that one would be willing to make such an extreme sacrifice as death, but cannot be bothered to donate an hour or two of time to the same.
A man might say that he values Truth more than life itself, but if that same man was willing to tell a lie in order to avoid a small amount of discomfort, we might be forgiven for suspecting where his real priorities lay. If husband tells his wife that he loves her so much that he is willing to die for her, would we be justified in doubting his sincerity if he also claimed that helping her with the dishes was a bridge too far.
It seems reasonable to think that a love willing to make the ultimate sacrifice might also be willing to make small sacrifices from day to day. If a person is unwilling to make such sacrifices, are they not actually demonstrating that they love self more than they love others? The idea that there are things worth dying for is a philosophical acknowledgment that there is more to life than just living.
There are values and things which are greater than our selves. But if we are going to acknowledge the existence of such things philosophically, then it is only right that we also acknowledge the value of such things by the way in which we live.
If we are going to say that love, and honor, and truth, and compassion are all ideas and behaviors with a value that is greater than that of physical life, then we should live with love, and honor, and truth, and compassion. If we are going to claim that Christianity is a faith worth dying for, and give honor to those martyrs who did give their lives for the faith, then we should put truth to our words by living in the moment according to the precepts of that same faith.
A thing worth dying for is most assuredly a thing worth living for. If you like to learn about how you can live for Christ today, the church of Christ invites you to worship and study with us, at Chapel Drive, Gallipolis, Ohio.
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