We need to think differently.

“But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”.

What is it that would drive a group of 25 men in Syria, during the time of the Isis occupations that were sweeping the land, to purchase for themselves a graveyard to bury one another in for the almost certain death that would come for the preaching of the gospel of Christ?

What would drive a young father, recently turned to Christ from Islam, to hand out Bibles outside of a Mosque in Mosul, the ancient city of Nineveh in Iraq, again during the very time Isis had already claimed dominance in the area? 

One a Friday morning, as was biographed by his young wife Khadija, Shukri, her husband, had told her that the Lord had awoken him that morning and told him that he was going to see him that day. 

While the graveyard in Syria, purchased by those 25 Christians, was still empty as of the recording of the event, Shukri’s lifeless and tortured body was buried under a shallow patch of sand.

Of his story his wife wrote;

I share these words several months after I lost my beloved Shukri. I am not sure I would have been able to compose myself and voice my feelings before now. I ache for him. It’s hard to put into words how much I miss my husband. He loved me with the love of Christ. And little Sarah and Walid were lost without their loving abu! But the Lord’s grace is rebuilding their shattered hearts. Yet, you must know this: We are not leaving. God put us in Iraq, and here is where we will stay. Perhaps you, too, have been called to persist at something God has called you to. I am convinced it is our duty as servants of the Most High to stay, go, or continue doing whatever He says until He tells us otherwise.[1]

Beloved, there are tens of thousands, if not millions, of such testimonies as these in the last 2000 years, but what has changed in the thinking of such people to be willing to do things so contrary to the “self-preservation” motivations of the unbelieving world?

We often hear a version of the “prosperity gospel” preached that says something like, “Become a Christian and your life will be better”, “you’ll be happy and everything will go well for you”.

The “thinking” here is no different to what the world is motivated by, but the truth of it is not found in the same way, it is found through a difference in our thinking of the reality of life, the reality of God, of the fallen world, of our lost condition, of Christ and our salvation.

Our minds were first “Renewed” when we believed the Gospel, but what happens to many of us soon after? 

We get saved and cross that spiritual Jordan and we have battles before us and behind us. Struggles begin and life seems to get harder not easier, sometimes sadder not happier, at least until our thinking changes, at least until our minds are renewed all the more and we are motivated to REALY BELIEVE the Bible and all it teaches.

As we do so, we can’t help but see in the bible that our lives are indeed to be filled with joy and so we wonder why it is that it does not often seem to be the case.

Why are there men who are willing to purchase a graveyard to bury one another in for the joy of the gospel?

Why was Shukri’s body discovered with his right hand sticking out of the ground pointing toward heaven with a smile on his face? 

And why are there so many Christians in prosperous western nations contrasted by a more miserable disposition in their lives, when they ought to have joy?

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN THINKING?

Here we have those willing to literally give their very bodies for the sake of Christ, but others not even willing to endure the slightest risk of discomfort for the ministry of Christ?

When opportunity comes their way to attend to the work of the Lord, all manner of excuses are offered up, and so they remain miserable and wonder why those giving everything for the Lord are so joyful.

Beloved, we must learn to THINK DIFFERENTLY.

James 1:2

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