8-5-2025

Good Morning All,

       John 15:13; “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

    A while back, I had an interesting discussion with my sons.  Now that they are grown up you can actually have a discussion.  We turned to one of our favorite topics and that is baseball.  We began to argue/debate the value of the sacrifice bunt in baseball.  One thought it was still a good play; one thought it was a waste of a batter.  One thought that it all depended on the situation; that was my vote too.  I told them of a game that I umpired where the team sacrificed their number 3 batter and then the other team walked the number 4 batter.  Now most coaches have the number 3 and 4 batters be their best hitters so it seemed a little drastic to give up that much hitting.  That is one form of sacrifice.

    Another form is what they tell the common folk to do when something happens like an oil embargo or a natural disaster that disrupts things.  We all have to pull together and sacrifice a little for the good of all.  We each give up a little so the overall whole benefits.  So, the theory goes. 

    Another form of sacrifice is when one does something heroic and dies saving others.  This is what most people think of when they think of sacrifice.  This is what most people think of when they hear this verse read.  It is used at funerals for servicemen almost universally.  That is why so many people think this verse doesn’t apply to them.  Most people don’t plan on dying for someone else.  This verse actually means much more.

    This verse also speaks to submitting to one another.  To lay down your life means to lay aside the selfish desires out of love for someone else.  We lay down our life for our children when we make sure they have proper clothes or braces rather than going on that European vacation.  We lay down our life when we watch our children play baseball rather than go play golf.  These are some of the easier ways of laying your life down; most people do this without a second thought.

    Yet Jesus calls us to more.  He calls us to sacrifice our lives, our own selfish wants, and desires, in order to help others, even if those others hate us.  Now that is a challenge.  Yet that is what we are to do.  We do this because the material things of this world are always secondary to the needs of our fellow man.  God gives us the gifts and wants us to share them with those around us.  Jesus laid down his life for us and now wants us to lay down ours for others.

Dear Father, we struggle to lay down our lives.  We are often tempted to keep and hold onto the things of this world.  Give us the strength to reach out to our brothers and give them the comfort and the hope which they so desperately need.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret