Is. 52:13-53:12; Heb. 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Jn. 18:1-19:42
Alfred Vanderbilt set off from New York aboard the Lusitania in
May 1915 to attend a meeting of the International Horse Breeders’ Association
in Britain. Even though the waters of the Atlantic were teeming with German
U-boats, most passengers on the huge vessel assumed
that, since they were on a
non-military ship, they would be safe. But on the morning of 7 May, the Lusitania was
attacked off the coast of County Cork, Ireland, and the ship was going down.
Vanderbilt was a First Class passenger and so he was given a lifejacket.
But He gave it away. Then, as the ship started to sink, he concerned himself
with making sure as many children as possible got into the lifeboats. A great
example of giving up one’s life to save others.
Today we commemorate the event of God-man sacrificing his life to save
the entire mankind. Jesus hung on three nails raised between the Earth and
Heaven, declaring that he is giving up his life as a ransom for generations to
come. After hundreds of years again Jesus is demanding his disciples to walk in
his footsteps.
Following God means that
sometimes we are called to make sacrifices. One cannot live for himself (or for
any other cause) and still be fully devoted to God, or as scripture says: “A man cannot serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Our
hearts need to be fully devoted to God and furthering his kingdom. Wealth,
family, or worldly things are always good, but we need to remember never to put
any of them before God. To say that this is a difficult task is to majorly
understate just how impossible it is for us to live this out. We are selfish
and worldly. You and I will fail at this, and thankfully God is
merciful and delights in forgiveness. The thing we have to remember
is that we don’t worship a God who just makes demands and calls for us to
sacrifice all the time. Let us never forget that it was God who gave us life
and he creates every wonderful and beautiful thing we have ever experienced.
Best of all he willingly sent his beloved son to die so you would be spared the
pain of death. This is the fourth, and ultimate story of sacrifice and
willingness:
“For God so loved the world that
he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John
3:16-17)
So if we ever find ourselves
wondering how on earth God could call us to give up something from our part
remember that Jesus first gave up his life for us. God is always in the
business of providing what’s best for his children, and sometimes that might require
us to suffer through things we don’t understand or perhaps give up some things
we love. Growth sometimes is hard and often times what is best doesn’t come
until we give up some of the lesser things we so often king to. God has a great
plan for us, but in order to get there we might have to be willing to give up
somethings, but it is a promise that following God will
be infinitely better than whatever it is we are afraid to lose. We
worship a God who was willing to hang on a cross for us. So we should be
willing to make some sacrifices for him.
“Life is made
up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles
and kindness, and small obligations given habitually, are what preserve the
heart and secure comfort”, wrote Humphry Davy.
May the Crucified Jesus be our strength.
Satish