There's Hope For TodaySample

Tell me everything you know about Bartholomew. You could write it on a three-by-five index card, couldn’t you? Not much to go on, is there?

He was numbered among the twelve apostles. The historical record is thin and tainted with legend. The Scripture focuses primarily on Peter, John, and Paul. At best, we have a thumbnail sketch of the most important men in the first century. How could characters, so illusive and misty, survive for two millennia? What defines them, apart from three-and-a-half years with Jesus? I think it comes down to the way they died. Only John died of “natural” causes – after attempts had been made on his life. The rest died for what they believed in – a resurrected Christ.

People won’t die to sustain a legend or myth. Death is the ultimate moment of truth – the revealer of what is truly believed. The Apostles did not die in the company of friends; they died alone, and dispersed across Asia and Africa. The less notable among the Apostles retain their importance after all these years for their testimony. They were eyewitness to the greatest event, and proof of the greatest claim to ever be recorded in human history: Jesus Christ rose from the dead!

For that truth, they died. For that truth, we live.