May 28

Written by Bill Grandi on May 28th, 2021

I read a great story from Our Daily Bread a few days ago. I wanted to write about it then but deferred. It came back to me this morning for like the 3rd or 4th time. Sort of like one of those things that won’t let you go. 🙂  Then, as I was talking to a couple about their upcoming marriage, I said something to them that clicked in me again this morning. First, the story:

The four chaplains were known as “heroes.” On February of 1943, their transport ship, the SS Dorchester, was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland during WWII. The four chaplains calmed the panicked soldiers and while many were jumping for crowded lifeboats, they “preached courage.”

The exhibited it as well. When life jackets ran out, they each took theirs off and gave it away. They had determined to go down with the ship so others could live. (May 26, 2021)

Sort of reminds me of the band playing “Nearer My God To Thee” while Titanic was sinking. Or the story of the pastor (John Harper) who spent his last moments on earth swimming from person to person asking if they were ready for eternity.

It is one thing to be willing to die for someone. But as I told the couple the other night, we are also told to live for one another. In Eph.5 it says “wives are to submit to their husbands” and a lot of men will jump on that bandwagon. But they fail to read the verse which says, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church…” Jesus died for the church for sure. But He also lived for her.  I think in our hurry to get to the aforementioned verses we skip over the one which says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph.5:20). I not only am to love and lead my wife, I am also to live for her-to submit to her by meeting her needs.

Love is not just being willing to die for someone. It is also being willing to live for them as well.

“Father, thank you for the example of both-living and dying. May I be willing to do the same-not just for my wife and family- but also for others.”

 

6 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ed says:

    It’s so important to submit to one another. It’s the model of what Christ has done for the church. Even though the people plotted against Him, He loved the church so much that He died for them.. in their place!

  2. Ryan S. says:

    Ultimately, this makes the marriage, the relationship, the friendships what they should be. Being willing to put others before self, up to and including death. The willingness to give ones life is the just punctuation in the sentence of life.

  3. May each of us be so committed to our marriage that we would both live and die to preserve that love.
    Blessings, Bill!