For You and Me

At the Soldiers' Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee, a stranger was once seen planting a flower upon a grave. When asked if some relative was buried there, he replied: "No.  When the war broke out, I was too poor to enlist, as I had a wife and seven children to support. I was drafted, but had no money to hire a substitute, and made up my mind to go. After I was all ready to start, a young man came to me."  "You have a large family," he said, "which your wife cannot take care of……. I will go for you!"

"He did go in my place, and at the battle of Chickamauga he was wounded and taken to Nashville, where he died. Ever since, I have wished to come and see his grave. So I have saved up all the spare money I could, and came and found my friend's grave." He then took the headboard and fixed it into the ground at the head of the grave. It bore the soldier's name, and underneath were the words, "HE DIED FOR ME."

You and I can say the SAME thing!  Jesus died for YOU and ME!

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8).

Due to our sin, WE are the ones who deserve the wages of sin: DEATH (Romans 6:23).  However, because of His great love for us, Jesus went to the cross on our behalf.  He "Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24).

To accept the benefits of His voluntary sacrifice, one must: place his trust in God (Hebrews 11:6), repent of sin (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), be baptized (immersed) in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38).  Then, as one CONTINUES to walk in the light of God’s Word, the blood of Jesus CONTINUES to cleanse him of sin (1 John 1:7).

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13).  Jesus demonstrated this GREAT LOVE for you when He gave His life for you! 

How will YOU respond?

God bless you!

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695  

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