Casper ten Boom and family were deeply devout Christians, including the now famous Corrie ten Boom. Though knowing the danger, did not turn away Jewish people persecuted by the Nazis during WW2. By the end of the war, their “Hiding Place” protected 800 people out of certain death at the hands of the Nazis.
When a Dutch informant tipped off the Nazis about the ten Booms’ involvement in the Resistance, the whole family was arrested and sent to prison. A few were released but the father, Casper, and sister Betsie became ill and died in prison.
Corrie was held in solitary confinement for months, and in 1944 was released because of a clerical error. She returned to Holland, in the grips of a terrible famine that killed thousands of people. She immediately threw open her home’s doors to those in need once again.
Despite all her loss, she never regretted what her family had done. She said, “The measure of a life is not its duration, but its donation.”
Her life raises questions about our lives. We know persecution is happening all over the world. Would we have the courage to ask God for the strength to do what the ten Boom’s did?
Would you risk your freedom, maybe your life to help a Christian? How about helping a non-Christian? Knowing your life as a Christian is sealed, is a stranger’s life whose eternity is at risk, worth risking your life?
Let me say emphatically that what the ten Boom family did was right. It was also heroic, and sacrificial.
Jesus gave an ominous statement recorded in Luke 12:4.
I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!
And in Matthew 10:39
Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
Those who sacrifice doing God’s will, will have eternal rewards. In this life, Believers who stand strong in the purposes of God, live an anointing, a joy, a revelation, that few could even imagine. Do not miss an opportunity to make a difference in eternity.
Blessings.