Would You Be Willing to Lay Down Your Life?
There are not a lot of things I would be willing to die for. I wouldn't die for a new computer, a trip to Europe or a home at Lake Tahoe - that would be foolish since I would need to be alive to enjoy any of those things.
But would I die for someone I know? Maybe.
For a friend? Possibly.
For someone I love? Likely.
It makes sense that people don't die for things - possessions that are here today and gone tomorrow*. But people will die for ideals, and people, and beliefs - this is what causes wars... and this is what motivates people to fight in them.
*Okay, sometimes people die for these things, but it's usually not voluntarily.
I always connected this concept to the idea that the Christian martyrs of the early church who died for Christ did it because they believed in Him. To my mind, this was a proof that Jesus was who He claimed to be because people who knew Him were willing to sacrifice their lives for Him... if He'd been a liar or a lunatic someone would've come clean when they realized their life was about to end. People just don't die for things they don't believe in.
So who did Jesus die for?
Me. You. Us.
Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life on a cross - enduring some of the worst possible torture and doing it silently - so that we would be redeemed.
People don't die for things they don't believe in - so I guess Jesus believed in us.
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