A question naturally arises: To what extent should we be prepared to suffer? The Bible's standard is "Be faithful unto death" (Rev. 2:10). In other words, we have to be prepared for any suffering, even the suffering of death. Of course, we do not want to become an extremist. Yet there is no compromise as far as a mind to suffer is concerned. If there is any compromise, we would rather let the Lord do the compromising; we would rather let the church or the more mature brothers balance us. As for ourselves, we have to give our all. If we compromise ourselves, how can we be effective in the work? We will have no way to go on. If we consider our own life to be so precious, and hold ourselves carefully by the hand all the time, we will not accomplish much in God's work. We all have to be faithful even unto death. This is our way. The Lord will not sacrifice our life simply because we have vowed to be faithful. Nevertheless, it is the Lord's business to preserve our life; we do not preserve it ourselves. It is the Lord's business to arrange everything for us. On our side, we have to be prepared to sacrifice ourselves. We have to be prepared to face every kind of suffering. Brothers and sisters, if you love your life, you will not be able to be faithful even unto death. Those who are faithful even unto death do not love their own life. This is the Lord's basic requirement. Our mind to suffer should be so strong that we can say, "Lord, I will die for You! I do not care for the circumstances around me. I am willing to give up my life for You!" Brothers and sisters, without such a determination, we will stop as soon as we encounter difficulty. Every worker of the Lord has to learn to not love himself. Those who love themselves are limited in their works. When they reach a certain point, they will stop. God wants absolute men to serve Him. He wants those who are willing to lay aside their life to serve Him. Do not worry about becoming an extremist. That is a totally different issue. On our part, we should never make any provision for ourselves. We all should be absolute in our mind to suffer. Let me repeat: We do not have to suffer, but we all must have a mind to suffer. We must always be prepared to cast every care aside. We must cast aside not only our outward difficulties but should sacrifice our own health. If we love ourselves and are too afraid to give ourselves up, we will not accomplish much. We have to tell the Lord, "I am willing to consecrate everything. From now on, no suffering will stop me from serving You. This is my choice, no matter what the outcome, whether it is death, life, suffering, or joy!"
Brothers and sisters, only one thing is effective—a service that is faithful even unto death. The more we take this stand, the less Satan can do anything to us. He will have no place to flee. Those who love themselves are truly bound by themselves. A little pain and they are in constant tears and sighings. They love themselves too much! If we do not love ourselves, our tears and sighings will be gone. Brothers and sisters, we who are taking this way have to give up our very lives. If we want to take this way, we have to say to the Lord, "Your ordained way for me may or may not be a way of suffering, but I am ready to meet any sufferings." Forgive me for repeating this again and again. But we must realize that even though our suffering is limited, our mind to suffer should be unlimited. The actual amount of suffering which the Lord has measured to us may be limited, but our readiness for suffering should be unlimited. If our readiness for suffering is limited, it means that we do not have a mind to suffer. As soon as we put a limit on our readiness for suffering, we will not be able to get very far. This is a high demand, but this is what the Lord is after. Anything short of this will not qualify us for His service. We should not think that a mind to suffer is limited to just a little suffering. No, a mind to suffer has no limit; it is not even limited by death. Anything that comes short of this will not withstand any temptation from Satan. "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death" (Rev. 12:11). If our conscience does not condemn us, if we declare our testimony of victory in the face of Satan, and if we love not our soul-life even unto death, his assaults against us will be futile. He cannot deal with a person who does not seek to preserve his own life. We are familiar with the story of Job. Satan attacked Job because he scoffed at the idea that Job could possibly not have a desire to preserve his own life. He said to Jehovah, "Skin for skin! Indeed all that a man has he will give for the sake of his life. But stretch forth Your hand, and touch his bone and his flesh; and he will surely curse You to Your face" (Job 2:4-5). Satan knew that he could have a way with Job if Job had the slightest love for his own life. The passage in Revelation shows that Satan cannot do anything about those who do not love their soul-life even unto death.
This is where many of God's servants have failed. They love their own life. May I ask: Is the preservation of our lives more important or the preservation of the Lord's work more important? Is our life more important or is our responsibility more important? Is it the saving of souls that matters or is it the saving of our lives? Which is more important, our own life or the church of God? Is God's testimony on earth more important or is our own life? No one who indulges in self-love can serve God. Those who are suffering may not be qualified to serve God. Only those who have a mind to suffer, who have an unlimited capacity to suffer, who will not love their soul-life even unto death, can serve Him. Today we have to consecrate ourselves once again to the Lord. We do not consecrate ourselves to suffering, but we are ready to sacrifice everything. The Lord may not want us to give up our life, but we should have the conviction that we will love not our soul-life even unto death. Brothers and sisters, too many failures in the work have resulted from man's own laziness, self-protection, and self-preservation. We must not think that the eyes of the world are blind or that the eyes of the brothers and sisters are blind. When we set out for our work, others will see whether we are fully consecrated. If we hold something back for ourselves and if we take the compromising way, others will see it. Brothers and sisters, when the Lord calls us, He wants us to give up everything. May the Lord be gracious to us, and may none of us treasure ourselves or love our own soul-life. We have to learn to not love or pity ourselves. This is our way. If we do not take this way, our work will become very limited. The degree of our willingness to suffer determines the amount of spiritual work we will perform. If our mind to suffer is limited, our spiritual work will be limited, our blessing to others will be limited, and the result of our work will be limited as well. No other measurement of God's blessing is as accurate as our willingness to accept sufferings. If our mind has an unlimited capacity to suffer, we will know the boundless greatness of His blessing.