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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