I have recently been reading Foxes’ Book Of Martyrs and, as a result, I’ve been both appalled and challenged in my witness for Jesus Christ.
Foxe accounts for us a brief biography about a young man’s faith that is not only graphic but also rather convicting spiritually. At least for me.
Some 1,800 years after the fatal event Christians today are still being encouraged by the testimony of that young man. Foxe wrote,
“Agapetus, a boy of Praeneste, in Italy, who was only fifteen years of age, refusing to sacrifice to the idols, was severely scourged and then hanged up by the feet, and boiling water poured over him. He was afterwards worried by wild beasts, and at last beheaded.”
Wow! I certainly would not want to experience the severe torments of Agapetus’ final hour, but is that a powerful testimony or what?
That teenager, who today would probably be a sophomore in any high school across America, refused to offer a pinch of incense to a pathetic monarch and so gladly exchanged the comforts of this world for a house made without hands.
He chose to be “worried by wild beasts” rather than stand “worried” before his Lord.
A few years back there was a television commercial with an advertisement about Michael Jordan. The commercial encouraged people to Be like Mike. Actually, I think we should Be like Agapetus.
Another heart-wrenching account about how the Lord used clay pots as His instruments to save sinners was also penned in Foxe’s book.
“During the martyrdom of Faustinus and Jovita, brothers and citizens of Brescia, their torments were so many, and their patience so firm, that Calocerius, a pagan, beholding them, was struck with admiration, and exclaimed in ecstasy, “Great is the God of the Christians!” for which he was apprehended and put to death.”
We serve a mighty God. If American Christians would commit to radical discipleship so that God would be honored above all else, He just may cause countless more pagans to cry out, “Great is the God of the Christians!”
QUESTION: How are you doing with glorifying God in your daily life? Every one of us will exhale that last breath some day soon, but God gave you today so that He could enjoy the pleasure of your life. How are you doing with that?