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Verse:“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” —Matthew 24:9
Every genuine Christian must pay the price for his or her faith.
That price varies according to the circumstances in which one is immersed and his or her level of commitment to God’s Word.
Few people have ever paid as high of a price for their faith as the Huguenots —French Calvinist Protestants. On the night of August 23–24, 1572, a huge wave of Catholic mob violence against the Huguenots began.
It became known as the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre. It started in Paris and extended outward to other urban centers and into the countryside.
It lasted for several weeks.
Modern estimates for the number of those who died across France vary widely, from five thousand to thirty thousand. In 1598, King Henry IV of France signed the Edict of Nantes, granting the Huguenots significant religious tolerance.
But in 1685, Louis XIV revoked the edict.
Again, hostility against the Huguenots increased, and as many as four hundred thousand fled from France at risk of their lives.
In 1730, a nineteen-year-old Huguenot girl was arrested and taken to the Tour of Constance in the city of Aigues-Mortes in southern France.
Her name was Marie Durand (1711–1776), and her crime was that of having a brother who was a Protestant minister. All she had to do to regain her freedom was say, “I recant.” Instead, she engraved the French word REÇISTER (resist) on the rock of the prison wall. She spent the next thirty-eight years (1730–1768) in prison for her faith! Would you be willing to pay such a high price for your faith? If you would, praise the Lord! At any rate, there is a huge contrast between the immovable conviction of the Christian martyrs and the flexible beliefs of modern pluralistic Christianity.
The martyrs lived in a time of religious intolerance.
For them, the truth was true, regardless of the circumstances and irrespective of what political and ecclesiastical authorities were endorsing.
Times have changed. In many countries of the world today, we have the blessing of religious freedom. Unfortunately, however, lack of commitment is often a by-product of that freedom. Many Christians today want to be politically correct.
Let’s enjoy the freedom we have but maintain our commitment to God’s Word and our willingness to pay the price for our faith.