by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
I keep hearing of people in other countries dying for their faith in Jesus at the hands of Muslims. It is so sad that this goes on without a government backlash against murderous Muslims.<\/p>\n
But, what about our faith here? Do we believe in Jesus so strongly and with such loyal love for Him that we would rather die than renounce Him? Some today have so little faith in Jesus that they will not attend His church as He commands (Hebrews 10:24-25), much less face persecution for Him. That is because many do not truly know Him well enough to love Him deeply. Paul knew Him, and that caused him to love Jesus above everything else that had value in his life (Philippians 3:3-12). This led him to believe that Jesus must be glorified “whether by life or by death<\/em>” (Philippians 1:20-23).<\/p>\n Knowing Jesus is key to the value we place upon Him. To know Him is to love Him above all else, even if it costs us our temporary life in the flesh. Let us reflect on what we have in our hearts, what we lack, and what we need to do about it.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton I keep hearing of people in other countries dying for their faith in Jesus at the hands of Muslims. It is so sad that this goes on without a government backlash against murderous Muslims. But, what about our faith here? Do we believe in Jesus so strongly and with such loyal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,572],"class_list":["post-87952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-persecution"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-your-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":87952,"position":0},"title":"Is it Your Faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton It is one thing to try to fit in a circle of friends who profess faith, and so you jump on the bandwagon with them, but it is another thing to get to know Jesus and put your trust in Him when it may cost you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-more-than-faith-required\/","url_meta":{"origin":87952,"position":1},"title":"Why is more than faith required?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a bit confused about what Jesus is saying about how one gets to heaven. In John 3:16 he says that we just need to believe in God and we will be saved. And that there is no judgment for those who believe in Jesus. Yet, in Mathew 7:21\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70591,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-are-we\/","url_meta":{"origin":87952,"position":2},"title":"Where Are We?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson The people of His hometown did not respond positively. Jesus marveled at their unbelief (Mark 6:6). A Gentile centurion believed Jesus could heal his servant simply by speaking the word-without even coming to his house (Matthew 8:5-13). Jesus marveled at his great faith-greater than He had found\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68821,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-case-of-the-philippian-jailor\/","url_meta":{"origin":87952,"position":3},"title":"The Case of the Philippian Jailor","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton He wanted to know, \"What shall I do to be saved?\" (Acts 16:30). The simple answer: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ\u2026and you will be saved\" (Acts 16:31). The details of why believe in Jesus, what to believe about Jesus, and how to express faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41391,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/willing-to-suffer\/","url_meta":{"origin":87952,"position":4},"title":"Willing to Suffer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer The willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ is not a bug, but a feature of the Christian's worldview. We realize that this is not, in itself, a selling point that would immediately cause people to flock to Jesus Christ. No one likes to suffer, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/hard-word-2-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":59760,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-unsaved-believers\/","url_meta":{"origin":87952,"position":5},"title":"Some Unsaved Believers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Erin Percell The creed book of one popular denomination says, \"that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.\" But is it true? Does the Bible say that if one believes on Jesus, it makes no difference what else he believes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}