"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus
Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who
were to believe in Him for eternal life." 1 Timothy 1:15-16
For
what would you be ready to die? If a person answers that question about
dying, he will also find what should be his priorities for living.
I remember a story a brother pastor told me many years ago. It was
from a time before cars were equipped with air bags, seat belts, and
child seats were still decades away. He had been driving home when he
came upon an accident. The first thing he saw was a little girl, about
five years old, covered in blood.
The blood on the child was not
hers.
The blood had come from her mother. Amazingly, the little
girl had hardly been scratched. What had happened was this: the mother
and daughter had been traveling down a two-lane gravel road when their
car was hit by a drunk driver who had veered into their lane.
In
the last moment before the cars collided, when avoidance maneuvers were
no longer going to work, that mother had thrown herself across her
daughter. When the vehicles slammed together, it was the mother's body
that slammed into the car's dashboard; it was the mother's head which
smashed into the windshield.
That mother's instinctual love had
made her willing to give her all, even her life, to save her daughter.
Loving sacrifice had shown itself in that mother who threw herself
between her daughter and the disaster of a car wreck. In this selfless
act she is not alone. When mothers look at their children, they see the
future. They see possibilities; they see dreams; they see a chance to
change the world for the better. And because of what they see in their
children, many mothers would be ready to die for them.
But would
they die for someone else's child?
That number, while not
inconsequential, is a smaller one. It would be smaller still if the life
that needed saving belonged to a child who was the neighborhood bully --
a child who had frequently picked on and beat up a mother's own
children. Yes, the number of moms ready to sacrifice for such a child
would diminish in such circumstances.
Here it should be noted
that Jesus Christ, God's innocent Son, came into this world to give His
life to save sinners.
* In so doing, Jesus gave His life to
rescue the worst of us, and not just the best.
* He came to
redeem the ungrateful, as well as those who were naturally appreciative.
* He came for those who had spent most of their lifetime rejecting
and mocking Him, as well as those who can never remember a time when
Jesus hadn't been their Savior.
In other words, no matter who you
are, no matter what your circumstance or situation, Jesus came to
forgive your sins, save your soul, and offer you eternal life.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I make no claim to being the best person this
world has produced. My sins are many, and I am unable to change the
smallest of them. Today I give thanks You were willing to live and die
to save me. In Your Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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