Emotional Martyrs
“Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it
glad.” (Proverbs 12:25 KJV)
One of the definitions for the word “martyr” in Webster’s Dictionary is “a
person who voluntarily suffers death as a penalty of witnessing to and refusing
to renounce a religion”. I have listened to my Pastor preach the same sermon
twenty one times because the sermon is all about Jesus and the precious people
who are being killed because they refuse to renounce their faith in Jesus.
This inspirational and heart touching sermon brings tears to my eyes and to my
heart every time I hear it. In my opinion, it is the greatest sermon that has
ever been preached. While I was listening to the sermon for the twenty first
time, God spoke to my heart and told me to write a devotion about emotional
martyrs.
I have lost track of the emails I have received over the last five years from
people who have been attacked emotionally because they have taken a stand for
Jesus. They told me that because they have surrendered their lives to serve
Jesus in full time ministry that they are being ridiculed and rejected by their
families and friends.
One person told me that he and his dad had been close all of his life. They used
to do things together every week but when this precious man surrendered his life
to serve Jesus full time, his dad not only stopped going places with him, his
dad also stopped speaking to him and won’t have anything to do with him. This
dear man who has surrendered his life to serve Jesus is heartbroken.
Joyce Landorf Heatherley, a Christian speaker and author, while talking about
men and women who have surrendered their lives to serve Jesus full time says on
one of her teaching tapes “Men and women are leaving full time ministry in
droves because we have not encouraged them. We have impressed them with our
“spirituality” and just knocked a hole in their relationship with God and with
others”. What a sad commentary it is on those of us who claim to be Christians
that instead of encouraging people to serve Jesus, we discourage them.
I can give you a perfect example of how people who love Jesus and have
surrendered their lives to serve Him are being discouraged from serving Him. I
felt God calling me to be a missionary and I surrendered to the mission field on
October 4, 1998. However, He did not tell me what He wanted me to do until
January 24, 2005. He entrusted me with and gave me the ministries of encouraging
pastors and writing devotions with Jesus helping me.
Two years ago, I asked a pastor this question and his response not only
discouraged me, it also broke my heart. “If I was a member of your church, would
you pray about presenting me to the deacons to be commissioned as a missionary?”
The pastor did not hesitate. He said “I wouldn’t even consider it. You’re not
doing anything”. I asked him what he was talking about. He said “You haven’t
planted a church”.
How sad, dear people that we are more interested in erecting buildings than we
are in planting the unconditional love of Jesus in people’s hearts. Buildings
will not last. Eventually, they will crumble but the unconditional love that is
planted in the hearts of people will last forever. These precious people who are
being ridiculed and rejected by their families and friends for the stand they
have taken for Jesus are emotional martyrs.
Of all the emotional martyrs, the greatest one is Jesus. He was ridiculed and
rejected constantly but He refused to renounce His Father. He remained faithful
to His Father. I have heard many sermons about the physical pain that Jesus
suffered for us but I have never heard an entire sermon focused on the emotional
pain that He endured. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus did not die from
the physical pain that was inflicted upon Him. I believe that He died of a
broken heart. I also believe that every time a nail was pounded into His hands,
that same nail was pounded into His heart.
You may be willing to die physically for Jesus but are you willing to die
emotionally for Him? When your family and friends say cruel and sarcastic things
to you because you have taken a stand for Jesus, do you keep your mouth shut or
do you say hateful, cruel and sarcastic things back to them?
We not only need physical martyrs for Jesus, we also need people who are willing
to be emotional martyrs for Him. Are you an emotional martyr for Jesus?
Remember, Jesus gave His life’s blood for you on the cross and died of a broken
heart for you. How can we do less than die for Him, not only physically but also
emotionally?
Joanne Lowe
March 8, 2010
joannelowe8@cox.net
www.joanne-ourprecioussaviour.blogspot.com