ELIZABETH DIRKS @ 1549

Life that a Christian is called to walk is no easy walk. It not only is narrow and difficult, but is also a walk where one may have to pay the ultimate price with our own lives. Therefore, Paul declares confidently, “20 according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:20-21

Today 27 May, in 1549, “anabaptist, Elizabeth Dirks is drowned in a bag in the Netherlands. Her tormentors, the Roman Catholic captors, in an attempt to get her to betray the name of the person who baptized her, had tortured her with thumbscrews, until blood spurted from under her fingernails, and crushed her legs in screws until she fainted from agony.”

Elizabeth Dirks walked this path because she believed, “7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” – Philippians 3:7-8

We may or may not encounter such a situation in our walk with the LORD. However, is our faith in the LORD, and our desire to walk in His ways, strong enough to hold us steady when we face such a situation? May the LORD help us to be faithful to Him, even if it means to die for Him.