Ye, I Am WIlling

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13)

Hey Gang:  Another member of my Hall of Fame, that impacted on my life, is the wonderful story of a little boy who was willing to lay down his life for his sister.    As I researched the endorphin file this story demanded that it be shared.  I am not sure where it came from but I can attest to the fact that I have shared it with many audiences.

It seems that a young lassie had some sort of disease that refused to give in to the many medical attempts to find the source and provide a treatment to cure the disease.  They were running out of time and  options when one of the doctors suggested they do a blood test on the other children in the family to see if there were any rare denominators in their blood that compared to the sister.

At the conclusion of the test they discovered that the youngest brother also had some of the same similarities with the sister.  It was decided that perhaps there was something in his blood that would attack the unidentified cells causing the problem. So, one of the doctors involved sat down with the little brother and explained the problem  and asked if would be willing to give his sister a blood transfusion.. 

There was no hesitation on brother’s part - his love for his sister was so much greater than the fear that he felt.   And then the day arrived for the transplant.  As the brother lay next to his sister and the transfer was in progress, he called out to the doctor and asked, "Will I die slowly or will it come suddenly?”  They had neglected to tell him that they would take only a little of his blood and not all of it. 

We are not told the outcome of this experiment and that is not the important principle in this story.  He was willing to lay down his life for his sister.  The Scripture above comes from one of those powerful sections where Jesus was teaching on becoming part of His vine.  Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I  in him, he bares much fruit. for apart from Me you can do nothing".   (v. 5). 

I wonder what our world would look like, if we all had the same love in our heart for our brothers and sisters (families, body of Christ, neighbors, enemies)  as the little boy in our story had for his sister.  It is so tragic, in our world today, that so many have chosen to go our own way and shelve those principles God provided which provide the peace and joy that surpasses our human understanding.

Jesus said, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love".   But notice He did not stop there, He went on and said, "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full"  (vs. 10-11).

Sooooo, friends and neighbors, brothers and sisters in Christ, would this not be a better world if all of God's people would abide in His vine and be willing to deny self and take up their cross daily, and be willing to lay down their lives for the brethren.  Does that mean we must literally die to fulfill Christ commandments? Not always, a slice of bread to a hungry person, caring for others in many ways, qualifies. So "go and do likewise." (Luke 10:37).

Blessings,

Gramps