What Would Perpetua Say?

“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?”