Would You Die On This Hill?

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”-Revelation 12:11

My dad has a saying that I didn’t understand until recently. Whenever I’m in a position of having to make a big decision, he always asks “Is this the hill you want to die on?” It used to annoy me, as I thought it meant “drop, it’s not worth continuing.” The more I think about it, though, the more he’s right in asking that question. It’s something we ought to consider in anything we believe. Do we want to be right, or are we right with God on this? You see, nowadays, we throw around words like “faith,” or “believe” but lack any real conviction. When we bandy those words, we mean “acknowledgement with hope of reciprocation.” To go in to the Biblical definition of faith is to ask one’s self “is this the hill I want to die on?”

Loved ones, many of us lack true conviction. We’d fight for something, we’d even sacrifice others for it, but we wouldn’t be willing to die ourselves for our supposed convictions. Most of what motivates us is sex, greed, politics, and good feelings. We lack true conviction, and we type from our phones and keyboards, brave keyboard warriors that we are, like we’ve done something great. We say we would die for something, and yet we bandy about empty phrases when challenged (I’m not a biologist, I’m not a scientist, I’m not in government, I’m not a theologian, etc.). We often lack any real conviction, as evidenced by the hills we won’t die on (hence the phrases we use to retreat from them!). If you want to see TRUE faith in action, look at Scripture. Many of the prophets died in faith, often horrific deaths. Jesus died for it. The Apostles, and many Christians during their time and since have died for their faith in Him. Faith isn’t blowing one’s self up, or lighting one’s self on fire for peace. It’s standing on your convictions, and facing the firing squad of those who desire to shut you up. True belief, true faith isn’t acknowledging that God is real, it’s living as though you would die for that belief. And I live and die on the fact that Jesus, though being God, left heaven to live as one of us, though not like us: He lived perfectly according to God’s word.He died for our sins, to atone for our mistakes, and reconcile us to God. He rose again, proving that eternal life is possible in Him. I will die on the Bible as God’s infallible word, as Jesus fulfilled many of the Old Testament promises, so many that He, in doing so, is a statistical anomaly, one that changed the course of all history forever (a fact that even secularists can’t deny). I believe the Holy Spirit leads us as we follow Jesus through His word, and that some day, we will be with Him in eternity. I believe that this salvation is for anyone who is willing to repent and give their lives completely in surrender to Jesus, and follow Him, and be born again (As Acts 2:37-38 says “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “). I will die on this hill as I live in Christ. Will you? Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

     He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

     He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

    for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

    I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

    your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

    forever.

Revelation 6:9-11

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Revelation 12:7-12

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”