Dying to Save

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A group of merry children were having lots of fun playing along the riverbank. Suddenly there was great alarm as one little boy gave a loud scream and tumbled into the water. None of them could swim and the little fellow was being carried downstream by the current to certain death.
It so happened that a young gardener, working in a nearby orchard, heard the scream and throng off his jacket and his boots, he plunged into the cold water to the rescue. He caught hold of the boy just as he was sinking into the deepest part of the river. An oar was thrown in to which the brave rescuer clung until both were picked up by another man in a boat.
The little fellow was soon none the worse for his experience, but that act of heroism cost the life of his rescuer. The soaking he got brought on pneumonia and the brave youth died. The rescued boy’s parents had a pretty tombstone put above his grave with the inscription, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:1313Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13).
Now the love of the Lord Jesus went far beyond this. He died not merely for His friends but for His enemies, for by nature, as guilty sons of fallen Adam, we were all enemies of God— “enemies in your mind by wicked works” (Col. 1:2121And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (Colossians 1:21)). “When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” Romans 5:1010For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10).
“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).
Has His love won your heart yet, dear young reader?
He loved the ones for whom He died—
Not ours to question why;
But ours to know the love of Him,
Who came to die!
ML-07/05/1964