101 Devotionals for Boys from the Lives of Great Christians and 101 Devotionals for Girls from the Lives of Great Christians will both be published in 2017. We’re publishing one or two devotionals a week to give you a taste of what you’ll get in those two gift books. This one is based on a story from Lights in a Dark Place: True Stories of God at Work in Colombia (Hidden Heroes #5).
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Missionary Russell Stendal was being held for ransom—as high a price as his kidnappers could get. One day one of the young men asked him, “What will you do if your family can’t pay our price?”
“Well, I know they can’t afford very much,” Russell replied. “So you could just take whatever they give you, or . . . you could kill me.”
“But aren’t you afraid to die?”
Russell shook his head. “I know it would be uncomfortable,” he said. “But no, I’m not afraid.”
The young man turned away soberly. How could anyone be unafraid to die? What kind of strength was this?
The strength that Russell had was the strength of knowing that the things he couldn’t see were more real than the things he could see. He knew that trusting in Christ gave him a far better inheritance than trying to get things on this earth.
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” II Corinthians 4:17-18
Heavenly Father, help me to understand and know that the things I can see won’t last, but the things that I can’t see are eternal.
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