Sophie Scholl was a young German woman during the 1940s. She saw
the deterioration of her country under the iron rule of the Nazi
regime, and she determined to make a difference. She and her
brother, with a small group of friends, began to peacefully
protest not only the actions but the values that the Nazis had
forced upon the nation.
Sophie and others were arrested and executed for speaking out
against the evil in their land. Although she wasn’t anxious to
die, she saw that the conditions in her country had to be
addressed—even if it meant her death.
Sophie’s story raises a critical question for us as well. What
would we be willing to die for? Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete
Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Ed McCully gave their lives in the
jungles of South America because they were committed to
spreading the gospel. Elliot revealed the heart that drove such
sacrifice when he wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot
keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” The apostle Paul put it
this way: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”
(Phil. 1:21).
Some things really are worth dying for—and in them we gain the
reward of the One who declares, “Well done, good and faithful
servant” (Matt. 25:21,23) —Bill
Crowder
Forbid it, Lord, that I should be
Afraid of persecution’s frown;
For You have promised faithful ones
That they shall wear the victor’s crown. —Bosch
Those who faithfully bear the cross in this life will wear
the crown in the life to come.