Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated, “When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die.“

Bonhoeffer was echoing the words of Jesus Christ: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”

John C. Stam stated the following in his graduation speech at Moody Bible Institute April 22, 1932:

“Shall we retreat and turn back from our high calling in Christ Jesus; or dare advance at God’s command in the face of the impossible?  Let us remind ourselves that the great commission was never qualified by clauses calling for advance only if funds were plentiful and not hardship or self-denial involved.  On the contrary, we are told to expect tribulation and even persecution, but with victory in Christ.  The faithfulness of God is the only certain thing in the world.  We need not fear the result of trusting Him.”

“If one must face the impossible, the first thing to do is to pray, not in a half-hearted way, but with the conviction that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Then go forward in simple obedience, counting neither the cost nor the consequences, for the victory belongs to him who trusts and obeys.“

John’s future wife, Betty Scott, held a similar view. In 1932 she wrote in her journal the prayer of commitment she lived by:

“Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever.  I hand over to Thy keeping all of my friendships; all the people whom I love are to take second place in my heart.  Fill me and seal me with Thy Spirit.  Work out Thy will in my life at any cost, for to me to live is Christ.  Amen.”

The Stams were married in 1933 and moved to China to present Christ to people there who had never heard of Him. They were caught up in the atrocities of the Chinese Communist Red Army in Anhwei province in 1934. On December 8, 1934 they were martyred by beheading by that army. Their infant daughter was rescued by a local evangelist and smuggled to safety.

Here in the western world, examples such as the Stams have been relegated to the province of the unusual few and are not required of a normal Christian. Yet, when Christ calls us to Himself, He bids us come and die. For some that will include dying in some manner as did the Stams.  For all, there is no other call.

Philippians 1:20-21  “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”