Worth Dying For?

What makes something worth dying for? What makes a person willing to expend their life for someone or a cause?

We may love our job, but would we die for it? We may love giving to a charity, but would we die for it? Most people would not die for their job or for their favorite charity or many other things for that matter. Then where does it cross over into a passion so deep that we would literally die for something instead of sacrificing principles and saving ourselves?

John 10:11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

17-18
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Jesus was willing to die for the people of this world. Evidently he saw the worth of mankind as more than his personal convenience. The Lord was convinced that the cause of salvation was worth everything he would be called upon to endure and even death when required.

Paul had a similar view when it came to dying for something and/or someone.

Philippians 1:21-24 (KJV)
²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
²² But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
²³ For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
²⁴ Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

Notice he says that if he remains alive it is beneficial for Christ but if chose to die it would be gain to himself. Paul was willing to die for what he believed in and ultimately he did just that. He was equally willing to live inconvenienced if it meant the Philippians would receive benefit.

This really comes from being so persuaded that the person and cause is of such worth, that dying for it/them is a contribution and not personal loss. It’s something bigger than yourself, and you are a part, not the whole. In other words, the person or cause doesn’t exist exclusively for you, but you exist for the person and/or cause.

Luke 9:23-24 (KJV)
²³ And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
²⁴ For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Jesus takes care of this when we are first saved. He requires us to pick up our cross and follow him on a daily basis. This means we must believe this is a cause worth dying for. I have to believe it’s bigger than me and I’m a part of something larger than myself. When I lay my life down, I have not lost, I have gained.

If you want to determine for yourself what things in life are worth dying for then simply consider your ideology and the weight of the values you hold contrasted with the consequences and implications of death.

Resilient–Be Encouraged

The word resilient means

• Marked by the ability to recover readily, as from misfortune.
• Capable of returning to an original shape or position, as after having been compressed.
• Flexible is a synonym

Resilience is the process of facing adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or extreme stress and “bouncing back” successfully without becoming too negatively affected by the experience.

Victoria Ruvolo was driving home from a niece’s piano recital one wintery evening in 2004 when a large object smashed through her windshield, hitting with such force that it broke every bone in her face. The object turned out to be a frozen turkey. The thrower: a teenage boy named Ryan Cushing, out for a joyride with friends in a stolen car. Ruvolo’s passenger managed to grab the steering wheel, push Ruvolo’s foot off the gas pedal and steer them onto the shoulder. After being rushed to the hospital, Ruvolo remained in an induced coma for two weeks.

When it was safe to operate, the doctors began painstakingly putting Ruvolo back together. The then-44-year-old office manager from Long Island was left with three titanium plates in her left cheek, one plate in her right cheek, and a screen holding her left eye in place. Her family was told that she might have permanent brain damage and was unlikely to be capable of living on her own.

But that wasn’t a prediction Ruvolo was ready to accept. She had survived tragedies before. Two of her brothers died in separate incidents when she was a teenager. At age 35 she miscarried a much-longed-for child. Somehow, she had found the strength to come through those losses, and she was determined that she would make it through this one, too.

With a devastated face, and a questionable future ahead of her, Ruvolo had plenty of good reasons to sink into anger and depression. But she didn’t. Instead, even as she was still undergoing a series of reconstructive surgeries, she told herself, “This moping isn’t going to get me anywhere.”

Contrary to her grim prognosis, she was back at work within eight months, living on her own, and speaking regularly to at-risk youths about ways to improve their lives.

A lesson from the lawn.

Imagine if a blade of grass decided it had had enough. It was done with having its head snipped off every weekend and its seeds – its future – cut off in their prime. Who could blame it? Yet, what does that ole’ blade of grass do? It doesn’t say:  “I give up! I’m getting nowhere!” 

It just keeps on growing. It continually takes in the energy from the sunlight and magically converts carbon dioxide from the air into food to make more leaves and more seeds.

A blade of grass is resilient. You too, can learn to be as resilient as the grass.

You may be cut down on a regular basis, yet your strength is in standing up, dusting yourself off, and starting all over again. Even when grass is covered in concrete, it finds a way to grow up through the cracks.

And, so must you.

Proverbs 24:16 (KJV) For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Source for Ruvolo story  https://experiencelife.com/article/the-5-best-ways-to-build-resiliency/

Different Does not Mean Importance of Value.

Our value is exclusively determined by our creator and no one else. The tendency of most people is to determine one’s worth by how much human attention one receives. However, that false standard of value creates an environment of competition and division. The mistake being made that certain gifts are more valuable and can intrinsically stand alone with no connections for support.

Romans 12:6 (KJV)
⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

Different here does not mean levels of importance or value but simply they are different.

Acts 9:23-25 (KJV)
²³ And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:
²⁴ But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
²⁵ Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

The disciples here would have had no idea that the man they were saving would write two thirds of the New Testament. Paul would go on to become the preacher to the gentile world and do some of the greatest exploits known in the early stages of Christianity. But, if it was not for the role of these disciples, he would have never came to the place of fulfilling the plan of God for his life. These men, will receive the rewards of this Pauline ministry as well as it’s namesake.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 (KJV)
¹² For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
¹³ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
¹⁴   For the body is not one member, but many.
¹⁵ If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
¹⁶ And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
¹⁸ But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where were the body?
²⁰ But now are they many members, yet but one body.
²¹ And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
²² Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
²³ And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
²⁴ For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
²⁵ That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
²⁶ And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

The heart is never seen, it’s not beautiful, but it is responsible for the blood flow throughout the entire body. If it is ever exposed outside of the body, the entire body dies. In other words, when it moves out of position it harms the body instead of helping it. The face cannot brag upon itself as being self existent and no need of any other members. If it wasn’t for the unseen support of the heart and countless other supporting members, it wouldn't exist.

Find out what God has called you to do and the gifts he has placed upon you to fulfill it. Then remain in that function contributing to the health of the whole and do not make it about you but all for the Lord’s glory and his purpose. I promise you, if you do this, it will be the most rewarding and fulfilling life. It will take away all competition, jealousy, selfishness, and remove opportunities for Satan to use to gain a foothold in your life.