Living life in the light of the Kingdom to Come ...

How deep and solid is your faith, really?  Would you continue to trust God if doing so implied suffering or death for you or your loved ones?  Are you ready to walk the way of the Cross?  These are questions I ask myself as a sort of "ultimate test" of the state of my faith.

And, even though I know that God promises He will provide me with His presence and with the strength to face every trial I will encounter, and that He'll bring me safely home, I have to confess that I often ask myself how I could possibly face a life-or-death test like that when I fail so regularly on a day-to-day basis to put the priorities of the Kingdom of God above my own priorities.

But asking myself the question is a good discipline.  The question corrects me and encourages me to keep asking God for the faith to exercise in the small tests day to day, as the best way to prepare for possibly large "life-or-death" tests of faith in the future.

God grant that in the day of trial we may all be able to sincerely pray the prayer of Jim Elliott:

What is this, Lord Jesus, that Thou should'st make an end
Of all that I possess, and give Thyself to me?
So that there is nothing now to call my own
Save Thee; Thyself alone my treasure.
Taking all, Thou givest full measure of Thyself
With all things else eternal -
Things unlike the mouldy pelf by earth possessed.
But as to life and godliness, all things are mine,
And in God's garments dressed I am;
With Thee, an heir to riches in the spheres divine.
Strange, I say, that suffering loss,
I have so gained everything in getting
Me a friend Who bore a Cross.

Lord God, open my mind and heart to be willing to sacrifice all things for the sake of the Gospel.