To Die For

During the Vietnam conflict, a young graduate of West Point Academy was sent to Vietnam to lead a group of new recruits into battle. He did his job well, trying his best to keep his men from ambush and death. However, one night he and his men were overtaken by a battalion of the Viet Cong. He was able to get all but one of his men to safety. The one soldier who had been left behind had been severely wounded, and from their trenches, the young lieutenant and his men could hear their wounded comrade moaning and crying for help. They all knew that venturing out into the vicious crossfire of the enemy would mean almost certain death. But the groanings of the wounded soldier continued on through the night.

Eventually, the endurance of the young lieutenant came to an end, and he crawled out of this place of safety toward the cries of the dying man. He got to him safely and was able to drag him back. But just as he pushed the wounded man into the safety of the trench, he himself caught a bullet in the back and was killed instantly.

Several months later, the rescued man returned to the United States , and when the parents of the dead hero heard that he was in their vicinity, they planned to have him come to dinner. They wanted to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them. On the night of the dinner party, their guest arrived drunk. He was loud and boisterous. He told off-color jokes and showed no concern for his suffering hosts. The parents of the dead hero did the best they could to make it a worthwhile evening, but their efforts went unrewarded. At the end of that torturous visit, the obscene guest left. As her husband closed the door, the mother collapsed in tears and cried,

"To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that." *

Yet, Jesus died for “somebody just like that.”  He died for YOU and for 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).  He died for us so that we might be reconciled to God and live with Him eternally (Romans 5:9-10).

We are reconciled to God through Jesus... when by faith (Acts 16:30-31) we 
turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) in His name for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, as long as we continue to “walk in the light as He is in the light,” then the blood of Jesus Christ continues His Son continues to cleanse us from all sin 
(1 John 1:7).

The cross of Christ is proof positive that God loves YOU enough “to DIE for.”

Will you LIVE for Him?

David A. Sargent, Minister

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

* Tony Campolo, Who Switched The Price Tags?

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