Honorable Mention

It isn't enough to just be willing, you have to want it, desire it, strive for it.

What? Love, life, joy, success?

Yes, but maybe measured by different terms, maybe love, life, joy, and success measured by suffering, hardship, and the possibility of trials and death. 

And Paul was willing, was striving. Reading through the book of Acts, he's so willing to face trial after trial, to suffer, and to die for the name of Jesus Christ, for the truth of His gospel, for the greatness of His righteousness.
 
Over and over his friends beg him not to go dangerous places where people want to kill him because of his faith and preaching. They plead with him, yet he will not listen. Again and again he speaks of his willingness to go, willingness to die, willingness to suffer and be beaten and put in jail for the name of Jesus.

Paul is so ready and willing to die for Jesus it is almost as if he's asking for it!

And maybe he was. Maybe it's not enough to just be willing. To be resigned to being "okay" with dying for Jesus. Knowing that Jesus is worth it, and being open to the possibility, being willing to suffer, but all the while hoping that won't be our path. I know I do it. I tell Jesus I would suffer and die (and trust that in the moment He'd give me the strength and courage I know I don't possess), but still I admit to Him I'd rather not have to die, rather not suffer any physical pain. Mental and spiritual hardships, okay, but please no physical pain.

I'm willing...but I don't want to.

But in James we are told to consider it pure joy to suffer for Jesus. Pure joy. Not just to settle for it, not just to be willing, but to be joyful.

After Paul and Silas were in prison, after being beaten within an inch of their lives, probably hungry, cold, wet, and generally miserable, I would have been impressed if they'd just prayed and thanked God for their lives and then prayed to get out. I mean I would probably have been crying, asking God for comfort and strength, and not really have been in the happiest of moods. But Paul and Silas don't just continue trusting God, praying and asking for deliverance or at least comfort, no, they sing and praise Jesus from their jail cell. Far above and beyond the seeming "call of duty."

So maybe the call of duty isn't what we always thought it to be. Perhaps we aren't just to be willing to go, maybe we're called to actually go. The gospel isn't about thinking, believing in our hearts, it's about action, going into the world and spreading the good news, no matter the cost to us. And being so full of joy and passion for this gospel of truth and grace that we will do anything for it, and do anything with pure joy, total abandon, as we spread the good news of a love that is far bigger and greater than ourselves.

Maybe Paul wanted to not just spiritually give his life to Jesus, but physically too. He wanted the joy of suffering for Jesus, perhaps considered in an honor to die for His Name.

It's like in times of war, when men (and women) go to fight for their country, considering it an honor to fight and die for the people and place they love. Maybe we're called to consider it great joy and an honor to live, love, and die for One far greater, holier, more beautiful, majestic, and powerful than we could ever imagine.