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An Appropriate Demonstration

             For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (I Peter 3:18)

Today’s verse is another of those “obvious” things for which we should be thankful. Veteran’s Day was this past Monday, and many of us thanked our veterans, who risked their lives in defense of the lives of another. We sometimes think to thank police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and doctors and scientists. We cheer as we watch videos in which people rescue animals, and say “Ahhh” when the animal appears to understand and show gratitude.  I have no doubt that our lives have been saved scores of times this year because other drivers have responded quickly even when we didn’t realize our lives were in danger.

The difficulty is that it’s possible, and possibly likely, that while our lives have been saved at great cost to someone else’s, we aren’t connected with the incident. We may not be aware, or it may so far away (in place or time) that we may not think of it, unless something happens to remind us. This is likely our problem when it comes to Jesus’ sufferings to bring us to God. It happened, in one sense, two-thousand years ago. In another sense, it happened when we were saved, which is far more recent, but still perhaps most of a lifetime ago.

The goal here isn’t to convince you to dredge up appropriate feelings. It’s not to guilt or “should” you into anything. Instead, it’s an invitation to use your imagination. Image that you had saved someone’s life. What sort of response would you want? A shake of the hand, a whisper of “thank you” and that’s the end? A nod? Effusive handshaking and introductions to everyone you meet as “the person who saved my life”? A dedication to repay the favor or to “work off” the debt? Something else? I don’t know about you, but the effusive and repayment options get a big “Noooooo” from me. I might tolerate a friendship or partnership if we both have the same goals. The handshake or head nod would be sufficient. It would also be nice if I could count on the person I saved to not stab me in the back later.

Today’s verse say that when Jesus suffered and died, it was to bring us to God. What  you do with that information is up to you, but it seems clear what God would consider an appropriate demonstration of gratitude: being with Him. 

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