Mark Ramsay, Head of Learning & Development
Are you worth dying for?
There have been so many powerful movie scenes depicting the sacrifice of a hero for other people. Spoiler alert; I’m about to tell you who dies in a few movies…
Tony Stark in Endgame has to be my all-time favourite. I may have shed a tear in that one. Superman in Dawn of Justice and Russell Casse in Independence Day are also worthy mentions. In all these movies, the hero is making a sacrifice for friends and family, which is noble and moving. Perhaps we hope that we would do the same, if necessary.
But what if the people who are saved aren’t connected to the hero? What if they are indifferent to the sacrifice? What if they are enemies?
The Bible speaks clearly. All humans are God’s enemies.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…
2 Timothy 3: 2-4
We are not mischievous puppies who chew God’s favourite shoes. We are not lovable rascals. We are ‘boastful’, ‘proud’, ‘disobedient’, ‘ungrateful’, ‘unforgiving’, ‘rash’. This is who we are, and it’s not pretty. But it’s true.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Romans 5:6-10
And this is also true; even though we weren’t worth dying for, Jesus died for us. Why? Because God loves us!
Don’t get tricked into believing that God owes you anything. He doesn’t owe us health or wealth or success. We have no right to expect anything good from God, and this makes His generous, gracious, abundant love and kindness even more beautiful. We don’t need a Tony Stark or Superman or Russell Casse because we have the Son of God offering us salvation.
As we enjoy the Easter long weekend and spend time with friends and family, remember that the death and resurrection of Jesus for us is significant because we are not worth dying for. But Jesus did it anyway.