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Dying for me ::
A “ready to roll” article for your church newsletter
Source: Perspective Vo8 No4 © Perspective2001
Dying For Me
It was a corker of a question: “How do you feel about the fact that for you to live, someone has to die?” The interviewee sat there, lost for words. His lower lip began to quiver, and his eyes filled with tears. “I have no idea how to answer that.” Then his head dropped, and he said, “I would probably pray for that person – every day, for the rest of my life.” No, it wasn’t a Sunday morning religious show, discussing our response to Jesus’ death on the cross.
It was Monday night, and Dr. Robert Winston of the BBC TV program Superhuman, was talking with a man waiting for a heart transplant. There in an American hospital is a whole ward full of people, who desperately cling to the hope that before their own heart completely packs it in, a suitable ‘donor’ heart will be found for them. Such hearts come from car accident victims and the like – people whose hearts were perfectly healthy.
And yes, if you or I underwent a heart transplant, we too would be lost for words at the thought that for us to live, someone had to die. Not a day – perhaps not an hour – would pass without us being mindful of our heartbeat, of the fact that in a very real way, we were totally dependent on the death of another. We Christians are totally dependent upon the death of another – the Lord Jesus.
And as mind-blowing as a heart transplant might be, it only does us good for this life of ours on earth. But the death of Jesus, by contrast, is effective not only for this life, but the life to come. Because when Jesus died on the cross, he died the death we so richly deserve. He died as a sacrifice for our sins. By his death and resurrection our sins are forgiven (Eph. 1:7), we are made right with God (Rom. 4:25), and we receive the priceless gift of eternal life (Jn. 3:16). How might we respond to such a staggering gift? Kind of like a heart transplant recipient, I suppose. With daily gratitude, with the attitude that we owe this Man everything – our very life. Which thanks to his death on the cross, is eternal. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Col. 2:6-7) Michael Fischer.
Michael is the pastor of Australind Baptist Church, Western Australia
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