Can I offer you (and me) some valuable perspective?

“In AD 44, King Herod ordered that James the Greater be thrust through with a sword. He was the first of the apostles to be martyred. And so, the blood bath began. Luke was hung by the neck from an olive tree in Greece. Doubting Thomas was pierced with a pine spear, tortured with red-hot plates and burned alive in India.

In AD 54, the proconsul of Hierapolis had Philip tortured and crucified because his wife converted to Christianity while listening to Philip preach. Philip continued to preach while on the cross. Matthew was stabbed in the back in Ethiopia. Bartholomew was flogged to death in Armenia. James the Just was thrown off the southeast pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. After surviving the one-hundred-foot fall, he was clubbed to death by a mob.

Simon the Zealot was crucified by a governor of Syria in AD 74. Judas Thaddeus was beaten to death with sticks in Mesopotamia. Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot was stoned to death and then beheaded. And Peter was crucified upside down at his own request.

John the Beloved is the only disciple to die of natural causes, but that’s only because he survived his own execution. When a cauldron of boiling oil could not kill John, Emperor Diocletian exiled him to the island of Patmos. He then returned to Ephesus, where he wrote three epistles and died of natural causes about AD 100.” (From Mark Batterson’s Going All In.)

And what are our woes? Well…a package did not arrive on time (a cake I ordered recently missed the window of celebration!). Our adult kids have not called, texted or stopped by in 3 days, weeks or months. Someone else got credit for our great idea at work. Pastor talked to everyone in our row on Sunday but missed us. Maybe our favorite shirt got a stain on it (while eating our favorite meal).

Now, I know we do have more difficult issues to deal with in life, but we would have to admit that all too often we all get twisted up with rather minor issues. All too frequently we fuss about stuff that just doesn’t matter. They are definitely “first world” junk.

So maybe this week is a prime opportunity to check our attitudes and consider the examples of early Christian martyrs. Let’s take a moment or two and reflect on their lives and use their sacrifices as motive for change.

When we do, I promise our first world issues will seem very insignificant.