LIVING FOR WHAT JESUS DIED FOR

2Co 5:13 For whether we be beside ourselves, [it is] to God: or whether we be sober, [it is] for your cause. 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.
(A man transformed by the love of God and known for loving and even kissing the wounds of lepers)”

— Francis of Assisi

Between the title, the image, the Scripture, the quote, and my little input, I hope to encourage you to love even unlovely people, because they bear the image of God. Many years ago, when I was a young minister, I ran across a writing about the Black (Bubonic) Plague. Beginning in 1347 AD, within 5 years there were an estimated 25 to 50 million people vanquished by the merciless disease! What was even more astonishing than the killing power of the plague, was the fact that many Christians would pick up unknown corpses and give them a proper burial. There was a high probability that they themselves would die due to their contact with the dead bodies. Someone who was amazed by this bravery or insanity, asked the question: “Why do you put yourselves at such great risk for even strangers?” The answer was simple: “Because we see the dead as the image of God lying in the street!”

Let me leave you with this thought, “Those aimless, jobless, beggars on the street corners of our nation… that most likely brought their plight on themselves, are deeply loved by God!” He made them too, in His own image! That person that makes you roll your eyes in disdain, and I could go on… Jesus gave His life to save! Could we speak to the hardness of our own heart and say, “Except for the grace of God, there go I?” Could you consider the question, “Am I living for what Jesus died for?”

Every blessing!

—Tom