Why would someone say, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Phil 1:21)? What could someone possibly gain? Although hard to fully grasp, it makes sense to gain from dying because the follower of Jesus is finally with Him. Peter, however, takes it a step beyond and says suffering is good for you. How can suffering, which is from Satan, be a means to draw you to God? Doesn’t this mean Satan is winning? Maybe it depends on how one goes into it and through it that matters. Peter states, “But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.… Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear his name” (1 Pet 4:12–13, 16).

Gerald Sittser claimed, "Martyrdom is foundational to our understanding of Christian spirituality, for it highlights what was—and still is—distinctive and essential in Christianity".[1] Sittser’s claim is off-putting since it is not generally a message heard in many Christian circles. However, considering “Missiologist David B. Barrett estimates that 160,000 Christians were martyred in the year 2000 alone.”[2] Potentially the trouble many Christians in the western world have trouble fitting the concept of martyrdom as an essential in Christianity because it is not a lived experience for virtually anyone in the United States. It seems Sittser is saying a Christian must follow Jesus and be willing to die and not that they must die for their faith. If martyrdom was a requirement, then even the Apostle John, one of Jesus’ original followers, would be exempt from being a “true” follower of Jesus.

Although the concept of being willing to die for following Jesus is not always taught, it is certainly not because there is a lack of biblical support. One of the strongest verses for being willing to die for Jesus is found just before the mountain top proclamation of Romans 8:38-39 states, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul prefaced his confidence on the person who fits into this category by stating, “If children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). Jesus plainly told his would-be followers, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Sittser’s claim is a bit broad brushed because theologically there are two nuanced things at play: the willingness to be martyred and the refinement that suffering brings.

The concepts of being willing to die for my faith and suffering have shaped my life. Although I have not faced death for my faith in Jesus, I have faced insults. Of course, being willing to be insulted is not the same as the willingness to die, but the mindset is similar. Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10). God’s Word teaching us that living for God in the small things gets us ready for the big things, because it is about a mindset. It is the same mindset to be faithful over a little money as it is with being faithful over a lot. The opposite is plainly seen as most professional athletes and lottery winners end up broke, because their mindset never changed.

[1] Gerald L. Sittser, Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries (IVP Books, 2007), 47.

[2] Ibid., 47.