...ardent sacrifice

This evening I returned to my barracks (I've been away for military duty) to 4 military guys watching the movie Red Tails.   I had never heard of it before tonight, but it looked pretty good to me!  The scene I walked in on was an air battle between the Ally forces and the enemy.  One airship had already been badly damaged and had turned around in retreat. It was under escort when it was attacked again by a Nazi plane.  One of the fighters was being chased aggressively when he saw his friend approach him from the front.  In an ardent act of valor, his friend told him to dive out of the way.  And when he did, the oncoming pilot began to engage the enemy.  He fiercely fired upon his foe, killing his enemy and in the process took direct fire, which fatally ended his own life.  The rest of the squadron watched in disbelief and shock as his aircraft, plummeted to earth, the pilot's life now expired.

This was such an amazing sacrifice of self to save his friends.  I had only meant to casually watch for a moment, when I walked up.  But was immediately drawn in when I watched this heroic scene.  And that's when I looked up and noticed two other men had also walked up and been drawn in.  They stood...quietly fixated.  Their fascination peaked as they heard the sounds of battle.  You could have heard a pin drop!   I was very struck by this!  Intrinsically, we are greatly moved by sacrifice.  We are grieved, relieved, caught off guard, etc... These men had been very moved by this temporal sacrifice.  But this is exactly what Jesus did for us.  But how would they know and be moved with great emotion?   There must be a power encounter within us, in order to stir and impact the ones around us.  The testimony of Jesus must radiate in all of us!  I must not only be a testimony of His love and sacrifice.  I must be ARDENT!  

"...always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:10 NKJV

Only the supernatural work of His Spirit makes this possible!  

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." John 15:12, 13 NKJV