Easter 2006
| Love in Action….! | |
|
You may be familiar with the story of The Bridge Over the River Kwai, one of the most remarkable stories of the Second World War. The conditions for Allied prisoners in the Japanese POW camp on the River Kwai were so abysmal, and the mortality so high, that the men became almost bestial in their selfishness. They did not shrink from stealing food from their dying mates in a desperate attempt to survive. Ernest Gordon, who wrote the book, The Miracle on the River Kwai, was himself given up as incurable by the MO, but he was nursed back to life by the devoted self-sacrifice of a man in his company, Dusty Millar. But the miracle was the transformation of attitudes in that camp as people in it began to understand and respond to the love of Christ. How did that begin to get through to men in such desperate circumstances? It all started with a Scotsman, Angus McGilvray, who literally gave his life for his friend. The friend was very ill and about to die. Someone had stolen his blanket, Angus gave him his own. Someone had stolen his food, Angus gave him his own. The result? Angus’s friend got better, but Angus collapsed one day from starvation and exhaustion. He pitched onto his face and died. The bible tells us that ‘greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.’ At that first Easter somebody lay down his life for each of us. That single act of Jesus was sufficient for all of us and each of us to receive eternal life. May you know the reality of that expression of ultimate love Peter |
|