Skip to main content

We're In The List


You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

My hat is off to soldiers and emergency responders, who go out every day hoping that today isn’t the day that they face dying for someone else. Would you die for someone? I’d like to think that I would die for someone, but I fear I am too much a coward. Many years ago, someone asked me what I would do if I required to choose between drinking hemlock (or some other poison) and denying my faith. I answered that if he had the authority to require that I make that decision, I would drink the poison. That decision has not changed. But would I die for someone else? Would you? Let me put it one step further. Would I die for Hitler, Stalin or BinLaden? Would you die for Jeffrey Dahmer, Jim Jones, or the Sandy Hook or Las Vegas shooters? I think many people would not only say, “No,” but “Hell, no!”
This is one of the reasons I am in awe of God. He didn’t step into the path of a bullet in a trained response. He had eternity past to contemplate the idea. He spent about thirty years getting ready, and three years setting Himself up. He had opportunities to take a different path and He still died for you, and for me.
True, you and I are not Hitlers, Stalins, Maos or BinLadens. Yes, Hitler, Stalin and Mao together are responsible for the deaths of more than one hundred million people (Hitler was the slacker of the World War II bunch.) We aren’t Jeffrey Dahmer, Jim Jones or the Sandy Hook or Las Vegas shooter. There are lots of people we might say are far worse than we, but how many acts of treason does it take to be guilty of treason?
Treason? What treason? Every time we sin, we commit treason. We tell the King that we reject Him and His law. We place ourselves on the throne of our universe. Sin is treason…and yet, He was willing to die for all of them, and for you and for me.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more