I woke up this morning with a severe pain in my shoulder. My arm was completely numb and I had to swing it around like an elephant swings its trunk to ever get any feeling in it. At first I didn’t know what was going on and then I realized that I had been laying on it while I slept.
I noticed that my throat was raspy and I could barely open my mouth which had an awful taste in it; in fact I had to immediately go wash it with a washrag and hot water and then brush my teeth and gargle twice with mouthwash.
It was a classic example of sleeping with my mouth hanging open and snoring.
Yesterday my wife was suffering greatly from her chemo treatments and in fact it was so bad and she was so weak that I had to help her into bed. She was racked with pain, nauseous, and very weak. I didn’t want to disturb her, but wanted to be close in case she needed me in the middle of the night; therefore I decided to sleep on the couch instead of one of the extra bedrooms which are all located upstairs. That way I could hear her better in case she cried out during the night.
I don’t sleep much even when conditions are optimal, but that couch was not comfortable and definitely was built for sitting and not for a six foot tall person with neck and back problems to sleep on. I was up and down virtually all night long. I tried to get up and work but couldn’t think clearly, so I just went back to the couch and laid there and tossed and turned and thought for hours on end.
The last thing I remembered I was wide awake doing just that, but sometime early this morning I apparently slipped off into deep sleep for a couple of hours. Judging from my aches and pains the couch won a clear victory and I’m gingerly walking around like a stiff legged 15 year old lab that has seen his better days.
I hate to see my wife suffer. I was thinking last night how badly I wished I could take her place and take the chemo treatments for her. I would do so even if it meant the cancer would get the best of me and I would eventually succumb to it. I would not even think twice about it.
I remembered that Jesus had said in John 15:13, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. I know with certainty that I would give up my life for my God, or wife of 44 years, and/or my family and I would do so faster than a mongoose attacking a cobra, but I don’t know about dying for one of my friends much less someone who had wronged me.
Jesus on the other hand died for ALL of us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 states: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners”. The synonyms for sinner are: reprobate, criminal, offender, outlaws, and malefactors. Know any reprobates that you would die for? I don’t think I’d die for one, (or even sleep on the couch to be near one because they might need help in the night), but I have no doubt Jesus would do that and more.
As a member of His church and adopted son I should be like-minded with Jesus in everything. I’ll go into prisons, rehab centers, homeless shelters, and even into churches and minister to the lost, but dying for them on a cross????
Yikes! I have a long way to go and might not ever get there this side of heaven. C. S. Lewis once observed, “All that is not eternal is eternally useless.” Jesus wants us to think and act in eternal terms. When we close our eyes for the last time we will enjoy eternity with Him, or face being separated from Him and all His goodness forever.
It is important to remember that it is not a question of whether or not “He” loves us, He demonstrated that by dying for us while we were still breaking his laws with reckless, rebellious, abandon. It is a question of whether or not “we” really love Him. You and I have a free will and are required to make a choice. Love Jesus today – He loves us more than we can imagine.
Romans 4:25
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
June 15, 2015 – Click here to listen