A new start – Day 11

[Background: February is the month of love. The 14th of February is filled with gifts, throughout the country, as a demonstration of our love towards each other. Yet, we forget the greatest demonstration of love, throughout all the ages, when God sent us his Son.]

“Mayday, mayday …” That was the distress call of the British pilot during World War II. He and his team were on a mission to drop bombs on Germany. The army on the ground hit the aircraft and it rapidly lost altitude. The pilot’s distress call became increasingly desperate.

In the aircraft, the soldiers groaned in pain. The air force chaplain, who hid in the fuselage of the bomber, was the only member of the crew not wounded in the attack. The pilot used all his power to try to fly the plane over the nearing hill. Over his shoulder, he shouted to the chaplain to throw out as much of the baggage as possible, in a desperate effort to make the plane lighter. The chaplain obeyed the command, but the airplane was still too heavy and the hill was dangerously close. Were they going to die?

The pilot closed his eyes and, shouting, pulled hard on the yoke of the plane. Just before the plane hit the hill, it suddenly shot up and missed the trees and mountain tops. With the English Channel in sight, the pilot called out in relief, “Chaplain, we made it!” There was silence in the plane. After a few minutes, the pilot looked over his shoulder to find the chaplain. To his shock, he realised that the chaplain was no longer on board. Realising that the aircraft was too heavy to get over the hill, the chaplain jumped from the plane to save the rest of the crew’s lives.

Do you realise that Jesus, on a cross on Calvary, did the same for us 2 000 years ago? He realised that we would never be able to stand without sin before God. He willingly sacrificed his life to save us from an eternity without God.

Look at the words in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Still today, Jesus is sitting next to God, interceding on our behalf: “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34)

When last have you thanked God for his willingness to give his Son to us? When last did you live a life that demonstrates your love towards our Father? God bless.