What would you die for?

I love reading so when I was presented with an opportunity to get a book for free, I jumped on it. Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand came about a month ago but I have not yet read it through. Much like The Heavenly Man, coauthored by Brother Yun, I am so troubled by what the saints of Christ have and are suffering that it is difficult to read about their stories. Just recently in Orissa, India believers were burned out of their homes and churches, some were murdered and many were forced to renounce their faith in Christ.

America has been blessed in so many ways. Our nation was founded with the desire for freedom. Freedom to worship without oppression. Freedom to speak. Freedom to choose where we live, what we do to earn a living and who we marry. When people from other nations dream of being free, America is the nation that captures their hearts and their imagintations. The problem with us here in America is that we have forgotten the price for that freedom.

As I read Richard Wurmbrand's story, I ask myself, "What would I be willing to die for?" Right away I hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:24-26. "Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also. For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?" (Amplified Version)

Do we really get this, I wonder? As a mother, I would like to think that I would die for my son. Perhaps for family. Could I suffer the torture and imprisonment that believers in other countries and nations have and still suffer for the cause of Christ? Could I lose the freedom to worship openly and to speak God's truth? Could I have joy under these circumstances? Could I love my abusers? Could you?