Dying to save the dead

A person will die for one they love. Will a person give their life for an enemy, or someone unknown? It seems to be a rhetorical question and yet there is a remarkable answer which involves the only possible means by which the heart can learn to love unconditionally. Meditating on this concept, a friend of mine reminded me that most of Jesus' apostles died to follow Jesus. They did not die for the idea of a crucified man, but for the living reality of a resurrected Savior who loved them in spite of their sins and denials. Their lives embodied the scripture in Colossians 3:23 that states "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

All of us, at times, look at our faith as work or actions that we must do or must refrain from. For example, as a positive work, many believe that we must tithe to the church to be faithful. Others believe in negative actions of righteousness such as avoiding alcohol. However, the radical truth of the gospel is that Christianity is not at all about what you do or don't do. It is about the works that have been done on the sinner's behalf. The apostles did not live or die for Jesus because they had to. They lived and died for him because they loved every aspect of His existence and unconditional love.



Christ does not ask us to go through anything that He Himself has not already been through. His followers were willing to give up their lives for Him who is worthy of all glory and honor. After all, He gave up His own life as God in the flesh to save their depraved and dishonorable lives. Their works were the result of a heart change that was manifested outwardly. In other words, they produced good works because what they gave honor to changed. They esteemed works in life that brought honor to God instead of self-seeking works. This is the means by which we have faith in God's kindness that leads us to repentance in order to produce works worthy of repentance!


The process of producing good works is a result of getting to know the man, Jesus Christ. Everything He undertook during His life was meant to highlight the perfect and humble love of His Father. By contrast, the people whom He confronted through His words and works often revealed the depth-less depravity of the human heart. All of His works culminated in His death on a cross where the penalty for the depravity of His faithless apostles and every sinning child of God was paid for. Christ gave His life for His enemies and those who did not desire to know Him so that they would have a change of heart that produced an unconditional love for all people. Anything that comes from such a heart is worthy of honor.

What does your religion teach? Does your life mirror this radical love? Do your works bring glory to yourself or to Jesus? To answer these questions, consider that in order to know what you want in life you must first look at what you have or how you live.

Freaking Ants (part two)!

My previous blog about ants reminded me of a blog I wrote in October of last year. Let me see if I can scrounge it up for you for it is quite funny (uncomfortable though it was for me):

Tickling my brain

"This morning I woke up with my brain tickling. Not only was it like the itch you can't scratch, it was like the itch you can't scratch that hurts really badly if you even think about scratching it. I think it was about 1:30 am when I noticed it. I was slowly brought back to consciousness in a most unpleasant manner. The sensation got worse and worse until about 20 minutes later I desperately jumped out of bed to plunge my ear with a cue tip. Amazingly, a little black ant was all the way back in my ear canal. It had been marching on my ear drum as if it were a parade deck!

With my sleep interrupted as it was, I was really tired at work all day. When I got back to the house, I decided to take a nap. No more than 20 minutes into my nap my nose started to itch as if the feather dusters of the world had united and shoved themselves into my nostrils. I'm not joking when I say that for the second time in one day an ant had found its way into my face. It felt like the itch you get in your nose before you sneeze (though this one burned)...and it didn't go away! I was finally able to get the ant out of my nose but now I'm terrified of going to sleep tonight..."

Other than that, a couple of other interesting things about ants popped up onto my radar. A writer on the blog site Open Salon (Tim Cordle to be precise) made an interesting point behind the meaning of sacrifice. On sacrifice for personal gain (a homicide bomber gaining their harem in heaven) he says, "Whatever a terrorist believes about his or her just cause, the altruism of their act is considerably diminished by virtue of the fact that by committing such atrocities they hope to guarantee a special reward in the hereafter. That is hardly a selfless act."

On sacrifice for the gain of others he provides the example of a specific type of ant mentioned by the December 2008 Smithsonian:

The Collective Good

"Scientists in Brazil have observed an unusual act of selflessness. When Forelius ants retire for the night, one or more workers remain outside the colony, kicking sand to seal the entrance. If that protects those within from predators or rain, it also dooms the outside ants to die overnight of exposure. It's the first known case of "pre-emptive self-sacrifice" among insects."

To make his point about sacrifice, Cordle compares the two forms of sacrifice and their worth: "No, a true selfless act is that of the ant that barricades itself outside the nest and expects nothing for its sacrifice but death. For at least as far as we know, there is no Paradise in the metaphysics of ants."

To read Cordle's blog in its entirety is to read a post disclaiming religion because it does not provide for a form of sacrifice that is selfless. This is where he drops the ball, not having spiritual eyes to see with. My challenge to him would be to tell me how the sacrifice of Christ was in any way selfish. The scriptural proof I give to show how others-centered Christ's sacrifice was I present Hebrews 12:2-3:

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The joy of Christ was to be with His Father in heaven, in perfect fellowship with His children whom He lived, died and rose again for, forever. AMEN!