We Are

After Charlie Kirk was assassinated everyone that felt it personally started wearing shirts or placing bumper stickers on their cars that say, “We are all Charlie Kirk now.” The sentiment is biblical and is the prayer of the martyr…

“Yet for your sake WE ARE killed all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered (Psalm 44:22). The same verse was quoted in Romans 8:36, word for word. Paul was trying to share with the New Testament believers that persecution is to be expected if you stand for Christ, no matter the age in which you live. When a martyr’s death shocks the believers to their core, the only option left is to submit to evil, or to pick up his mantle and carry on in his steps. In this way, we honor their life, their work and their goals to bring Christ to a lost world.

I can imagine that the believers, after John the Baptist was martyred, declared among themselves that “WE ARE all John now” as they stood for Truth in the face of evil. And that after James was killed by King Herod’s sword, that his brothers and sisters in the faith rose up in Holy fire to fill his shoes, also. Every one of the disciples, but John, were martyred, and each time it was a powerful fertilizer for the Gospel, setting it ablaze across the globe, reaching to the furthest corners of the earth.

The apostle Paul counters the martyr’s prayer with a truth that fuels the weary warrior. It’s another “WE ARE” statement… “No, in all these things WE ARE more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). If these days feel wearying, may we remember that we are not only victorious in this battle, but we are immortal, too. Having a Godly purpose comes with pain, but being His makes this work eternally valuable and worth it. We were made for such a time as this; May we walk in it with boldness.

(Devotional by Cheryl Hall-Laos)