More Important Than Life Itself
by Joshua Travers - February 17, 2012
Is the Kingdom of God more important to you than life itself?
Seventy years ago, Dec. 7, 1941, the United States of America entered the Second World War, joining the many nations already at war. Countless Americans joined the U.S. military to fight Nazism and Japanese imperialism. Many of them lost their lives. They considered Hitler and his threat of world domination to be evil, so their fight and the freedom of others were even more important to them than their own lives.
Throughout history, countless people of many nationalities have given their lives because they thought that the end goal they were working toward was more important than their very lives.
As Christians, we are in a war, and we must fight. We do not bear arms in the physical sense and take on the enemy in mortal combat. Instead, we fight a spiritual battle that most people are not even aware of. We fight against the wicked influence of this world and Satan the devil, or as Paul puts it, “against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
During this fight to spread God’s Word and live the life of Jesus Christ, many of us will have to make sacrifices. There may very well come a time when we must ask ourselves if what we are fighting for is more important than life itself.
What we fight for
We fight for the Kingdom of God, to help others learn about it and for the privilege of entering that great and wonderful Kingdom. Every second of our life should be focused to one degree or another on preparing for God’s Kingdom.
Jesus Christ, our Savior, said that nothing is to be of more importance to us than the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).
Seeing the things that we go through to enter this Kingdom, many may wonder if the Kingdom is worth it all. We can be assured that it is. In Revelation 20 through 22, the awesome power and beauty of that eternal Kingdom is described. We cannot begin to imagine the greatness of this wonderful Kingdom.
No matter what we go through, the Kingdom of God will always be worth it (Romans 8:18). There is nothing in this world that can equal the sheer joy that will be available in the Kingdom.
How we are to fight
Like Paul said, we do not fight physical beings, so we don’t use physical warfare or weapons. While a tank works well on physical armies and fortifications, it does no good on demons and bad influence. Paul tells us how we are to fight this spiritual war that we are in.
In Ephesians 6, Paul lists important elements of the armor of God. The whole armor is important, and without it we cannot stand strong for very long (verse 11). We must fight with truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (verses 14-17).
Another element of the armor of God is that we have to pray (Ephesians 6:18). In Matthew 6:10, Christ taught that we have to pray for the Kingdom to come. Prayer is a vital aspect of fighting for the Kingdom of God, and it gives us the strength to go on in the war. Combined with God’s help and the rest of the armor, we will be sure to win the war and make it to the Kingdom.
The value of the Kingdom: priceless
In ancient times, the true Christians were often persecuted, some even to the death. One example of this persecution is found in Acts 7. In this story, Stephen, a deacon in the New Testament Church, was accused of blasphemy. He had a trial with a very hostile judge and jury. Finally, they decided to stone him to death (Acts 7:58-59).
Not once did Stephen try to back out of his war or switch sides. Stephen stood strong and lost his physical life in the fight for the Kingdom. He knew that he would be brought to life again to live forever in God’s Kingdom.
What about us? Could we lose our lives in the fight for the Kingdom? Is the Kingdom more important than life itself in our eyes—like it was in Stephen’s?
In Matthew 24:9, Jesus prophesied that the people of the world would rise up and kill some of His people. We may be in peaceful times now, but soon the time will come when the people of God will fall onto hard times once again. It will be to such an extent that, though many will be protected, others will be killed (Revelation 12:13-17; 6:11), just like Stephen was years ago.
They, too, will look forward to being raised to life to help Jesus Christ serve in the peaceful, wonderful Kingdom of God.
It is important to ask ourselves, “Will we stand? Are we capable of giving our lives for the Kingdom of God? Is the Kingdom of God more important than life itself?”
Joshua Travers is a high school senior who attends the Athens, Ohio, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association. He enjoys writing and reading.
For more about our spiritual battle and the promised peaceful Kingdom of God, see:
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