The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-02-24
Loving and Losing
Lesson for February rs. 1861

Ine HEADLINE ABOVE mgnt
lead you to think this is q col
umm about a boy and a girl. If
that's what you are looking for.
read no further. That's not
what this is about. We are talk
ing about something more i'm
portant than an imaginary girl
or boy. This is about life, your
life. We may as well come to
the point at once. HE who loves
his life loses it." This is a quota
ton from Jesus Christ. As if it
were not hard enough to under
stand by itself, Jesus adds an
even harder sentence: HE who
hates his life in the world will
keep it for eternal life" Jesus
never talked nonsense; but he
said things that made men walk
away. asking themselves. What
can this mean? This is one of
those hard sayings.
The Cross is the Answer
Jesus did not explain his rid
die in words. He explained it by
action. Let it never be doubted
that Christ was fully normal,
apart from sin. Like his breth-
rem in every respect" a New
Testament writer says. Now the
will to live is strong in every
man. In some persons of I'M
sound mind there is no will-to-
live. only the will to die. But
Jesus never strikes you (nor any
one else) as a morbid type, who
would go around hating himself
and hating life. Jesus had a
joy in living. this is clear from
all we know of him. Yet he
came at last to a crisis in life
where he had a chance to choose
to live, perhaps for many years;
but chose to die. He loved life;
but he would not treasure his
life above all things else. He
loved life; but it came to the
point where he knew the best
investment Of his life would
be to clay it down" Ito use his
own Words.
Suppose Jesus Had Refused?
Jesus sometimes said he had
to" suffer and die; but what kind
of necessity what this? No out
side force pushed him. True,
once he got into the hands of the
police, the end was foreseen by
every one. Yet even then Jesus
said he could summon angels
to his aid. And before that, it
would have been perfectly SIM
pie not to offend the Pharisees
and the scribeS. Plate had never
heard of him and would never
have heard of him if the chief
priests and the rest of them had
not brought Jesus before him.
Jesus had no quarrel with the
Roman Governor; and could
have lived to a ripe old age. in
retirement somewhere. But then
what about the rest of us? What
would we think of God? If Jesus
was the divine Word made flesh,
If he was God made man,
and if he had refused the cross,
then we would have known that
there is one thing God would not
do for man. God would teach
man. condemn man, praise or
punish man: but God would not
die for man. God would not let
himself be hurt But no,
Christ chose the Cross. He chose
to die. not for himself alone but
for every man.
The Dying Seed
Look into the garden ground
after it has been planted. What
do you find? To the eye, moth
ing: just seeds rotting in the
ground, seeds that will never
come out again. seeds falling
apart, dying. But look again;
every living seed is sending up a
green stem that will hold up
another plant. To have life, you
must first have death. To have
victory. you must be willing to
take scars. It is so with gar
dens. It is so with life. Jesus
sacrifice is not the only one
needed to save the world. Let
us suppose for moment that
every Christian in the church
were just as selfish. Just as much
a Me Firster, as anybody out
side the church. What would the
church amount to? Nothing
more than another pompous
club. It would never have lasted
as long as it has. of course; it
would indeed never have existed
at all. Go over the roll Of his
tory. Some people are called
reat" when nothing about
them was great except their
crimes? Who are the truly
great? They are, they have al
ways been, those who did not
love themselves best. They were
those who in the pinch -
whether i'll one single burst of
heroism or through long years.
gave themselves for others.
Biased on outlines copyrighted
by the Division Of Christian ed
ucation, National Council Of the
Churches If Christ in the Y. S.