“What would
Perpetua say?” During the mission trip
in July, the question became a constant reminder of our purpose and a way to
maintain a good attitude. Hopefully it
can do the same for you as well.
At our host
church’s Tuesday night prayer service, the speaker told the congregation the
story of Perpetua, a young Christian woman who was put to death around the year
203 because of her faith. He made sure
that we all understood the level of suffering and agony that she and her
companions endured before being killed in the arena in front of a cheering
crowd. As her father pleaded with her to
renounce her faith so that her life would be spared, Perpetua remained adamant,
declaring “I cannot call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.” Her love for Christ was so strong that she
actually desired torture and death in order to be faithful to him.
During the
week of the mission trip, when any of us would begin to complain about the hot,
sweaty, dirty work we were doing, someone was sure to ask, “What would Perpetua
say?” If she was willing and eager to go
through all that she did because of her commitment to Christ, certainly we
could handle whatever we were dealing with because of ours.
The speaker
at the prayer service told the story of Perpetua for a reason. When we feel inconvenienced and weary because
of our service to the Lord, it is good to remember that people like Perpetua
have served and given so much more than we ever will. Not only this, but they did it eagerly and
cheerfully because of the love they had for Christ, and their desire to give
their all to him. Are we willing to
follow Perpetua’s example, even if it does not lead to torture and death? Will we find ways to serve Christ and build
up his kingdom?
Our denomination
has just adopted a new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism, an explanation
of our faith from the sixteenth century.
It is divided into three sections: guilt, grace, and gratitude. First, we acknowledge our sinfulness and our
need for God’s help. Second, we
recognize and celebrate the way that God has redeemed us. Third, we live lives filled with expressions
of thankfulness for what God has done for us.
Perpetua is an example of the third step: bringing honor to God by what
we do as a grateful response for all that he has done for us. At times, our expressions of gratitude to God
may be inconvenient, uncomfortable, or even downright painful. But if Christ is at the center of our
existence and it is something that honors him, how can we do anything other
than that?
Being a
Christian is more than putting your faith in Christ and accepting his gift of
grace for you. It means committing
yourself to giving him your everything.
Spending a couple of hours at
church on Sunday morning is only the start of what it means to be a faithful
member of Christ’s church. We can each
find ways to participate in the church’s ministries: not for the purpose of
maintaining our institution, but for bringing Christ’s light and love into a
hurting world. There is so much we can
do as a congregation, in addition to what we are already doing, if we all do
something very simple. When we have the
opportunity to do something to build up Christ’s kingdom but we hesitate
because it will require a sacrifice, we can ask ourselves a simple question:
“What would Perpetua do?”
