A believer’s death is meant to glorify God. Scripture plainly tells us that Jesus spoke of Peter’s death as the way he would honor God. Yet we often forget this. We tend to think only life and activity glorify Christ, and we see death merely as the end of usefulness. Scripture teaches otherwise.
We can glorify God in death as surely as in life—by dying to the Lord as well as living to Him. Patient suffering may honor Christ as much as active service. Like Samson, a believer may do more for God in death than in life. History shows that the faithful deaths of martyrs often advanced the church more powerfully than their preaching. You have penalty heard before this famous quote from Tertullian (c. AD 155–240), an early church father:
In Apologeticus he wrote:
“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
God is glorified in death when believers are ready for it—watchful, faithful, and at peace, so that sudden death becomes sudden glory. He is glorified when believers patiently endure suffering with inward peace, and when they testify, even in their final moments, to the comfort and sustaining grace of Christ.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, teach me to live for Your glory—and to die for it as well Make me ready, peaceful, and trusting whenever my last hour comes. Help me to suffer without fear, to rest in Your grace, and to bear witness that You are enough, even in death. I belong to You in life and in death. Amen.
– The germinating seed for these devotional thoughts comes from…
J.C. Ryle’s “Daily Readings from All Four Gospels” edited by Robert Sheehan.
2Cherish2Commend 