NO PRETENDING
2 Maccabees 6:24-28
“For to pretend such things,” he said, “is not worthy of our time of life, lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to a foreign religion, and because of my pretense for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray through me, while I earn only pollution and defilement in my old age. For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die, I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age, and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and bravely for the venerable and holy laws.”
After he said this, he went straight to the rack,
Personal Challenge
The life of the Maccabees was very difficult. They were being persecuted and martyred for their belief in the one, true God. Eleazar had lived a godly life for his Yahweh for 90 years when he was called out for this commitment and brought into persecution. His persecutors tried to make him eat food that his faith practice deemed unholy. Rather than defile himself he was willing to go to the rack and give up his life for his God. When his friends tried to persuade him to pretend that he was eating the defiled food, he made this proclamation that he had not lived his life for his God just to throw it all away in this one moment and lead others, especially the youth astray. In his eyes there was no room for pretending. We can all take this mindset to heart. There are so many of us today proclaiming to be followers of Christ, even entire churches, that pretend to be a part of the world in order to win people to their way of thinking ,just to end up leading so many astray. This is what Eleazar refused to do. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!
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