In the gospel of John in the 15th chapter and the 13th verse it says there is no greater gift than the laying down of ones life for another.
There are many ways to die other than physically stop breathing cross over to the other side type of dying. It does not require some monumental feat or even placing yourself in danger.
There is a scene in the section of the trilogy the Lord of the Rings called The Two Towers. In this scene the King’s niece has made a stew. It was made with love, but the princess can not cook and the stew tasted terrible. She has just given Aragorn a bowl full in love and Aragorn has just put the first spoon full into his mouth. Now he could have spat it out and cast the remainder away and destroyed heart of the giver,but instead he swallowed the mouthful and told her it was good and in doing so saved a life.
We to have those special moments where a life hangs in the balance. Where we can be right and destroy that which God has been laboring on or we can, as it is said in Romans 15:1, bear with the scruples of those who are weak, not for our sake, but for theirs, that we might encourage them and strengthen them.
The other day Anawim received a donation of food and in the box was a lot of yogurt cups. This fragile soul had picked one to give to me. It was a Lemon/pineapple blend. A flavor my taste buds cringe at. But the gift was selected in love with the expectation of seeing me consume her gift. Just like Aragorn a soul hung in the balance.
And so with much bravado, and thanking her for her thoughtfulness I pealed of the lid and licked the top of the yogurt and took the spoon she offered and ate the yogurt. The joy on her face and the love in her eyes was well worth the nasty words my taste buds were screaming at my brain. An to insure that there would not be a repeat performance of this flavor I told her this was good but that my absolute favoritest was blueberry. She assured me that if the opportunity arises again that she would do her best to get two blueberries so we could share them together. For the rest of the day she was walking in happiness and when ever our eyes met she would wave and the joy never faded.
So, I would encourage you to look for your Aragorn moments, an fortify the work the Holy Spirit is doing in the life before you.
Dan Moseley
Jeff, when life gives me lemons … When Jesus asked for the cup of cold water from the woman living with some guy to get off of the street, he maxed out the opportunity to show her the love that NOBODY else had apparently ever done before. At that moment when she saw God for who He really is in this strange Jewish guy, she was drawn into His kingdom of eternal living water inside herself. Her life was changed forever. I want to be overjoyed in the moment always like that woman who shared what little she had with you.
deborah loyd
Jeff… What a great example of dying to self. Rather than investing in personal whiteness by purgying self from sin(which is self oriented), sacrificing our selfness for the sake of the other is the spiritual gift. Love it, brother!