All of life can be made better or worse by one’s perspective. Is the glass half-full or half-empty? The same holds true when one is looking at the circumstances in his life or his upcoming death. For the individual who does not know the Lord as His Savior, life’s problems can be very challenging, and discouraging to the point that he wants to give up but is afraid to face the Lord. On the other hand, when the disciples of Jesus face the same circumstances they most often do it with faith in God and His promises, because they have a different perspective.
The disciple of Jesus is God’s ambassador to this earth (2 Cor.5:20). But his real home is heaven where his citizenship exists (Phil.3:20). Reading church history, or Hebrews 11, as well as the experiences of those who have been recently martyred for their faith in Jesus reveals a different perspective about death than that which most of us have! Too many believers in Jesus mourn as those who have no hope (1Thess.4:13), simply because they have not renewed their minds to the blessed hope of being with the Lord forever!
The sorrow that we most often experience is really about us missing them without thinking that they are with the Lord and are in a far better place than we are. Let’s be glad and rejoice when a beloved disciple goes to be with the Lord for there is great joy in the presence of the angels and the saints who have gone on before (Luke 15:10).
None of us know for sure, but it could be that some of us may become a martyr for Christ in the future, and it will take a different mentality to remain faithful than the one that we most often exhibit.
In Carthage, North Africa, early church theologian Tertullian argued that persecution actually strengthens the church. He supposedly said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” That is a perspective that very few of us have today, but the future will reveal whether it is true or not.