Life or Death?

1 Thessalonians 5:10 “He died for us so that, whether we live or die, we may live together with him.”

The Johnston family was involved in a serious car crash. The two boys in the rear took the brunt of the damage as a truck piled into the back of them. The eldest, Harry, was in a critical condition and urgently needed a blood transfusion. The logical donor was his younger brother, Peter, who shared the same blood type as Harry. Peter was badly injured himself but not in intensive care like his brother. Dad sat down next to Peter and asked him if he was willing to give some of his blood to help Harry. He explained that they had the same blood type and a transfusion was needed to save his brother’s life. Peter was visibly scared but bravely said: “Yes, Dad, I’ll give my blood to Mike so he can get well.” The nurse gently stuck a needle in his arm, drew out a pint of blood from his vein, and then removed the needle again. As she did so, Peter turned and asked his father with tears rolling down his cheeks: “Daddy, when do I die?” Only then did it dawn on his father that Peter had misunderstood what the process involved, and that he was willing to die to save his brother.

As Paul wrote in Romans 5:7,8 “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The spirit of Christ is sacrifice, of pouring out of ourselves for others. It most probably won’t mean dying for the majority of us, but it will be costly. Could you give a ‘blood transfusion’ of whatever kind to help someone else today?

Lord, use me to bring life to someone today. Amen!