“Greater love has no on than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)
Japan has had its most recent 15 minutes of fame (or infamy). We’ve not heard much lately about their nuclear disasters. We’ve moved on. They can’t. But stories of heroism still shout from its shores.
Yasuteru Yamada, age 72, recently recruited a small squad of retired nuclear workers to continue the cleanup of the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant, a plant still spewing tons of deadly nuclear waste into the environment. They are on a suicide mission. But as they say, they’ve lived their lives and are willing to do this to spare those younger workers who were being called in and asked to sacrifice theirs.
What an example of senior citizens who are not saying: “We’ve done our part. Let the younger generation take care of us. We’re tired. We deserve the Lazy Boy lounger and our remotes. I’m going to enjoy life, not invest in it.”
But they are having the time of their lives laying down their lives for their friends and countrymen.
That is how Jesus defined “no greater love.”
How do you define it? Do you regularly show it?
We don’t often get the chance to “lay down our lives.” We might not do that if we did. But we can all daily show our love in smaller acts of service and sacrifice.
We can’t just enjoy our money. We must invest some of it or it will soon run out. So it is with our days.
Is your life more about enjoying it or investing it?
“Teach us to number [account for, invest] our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12; 39:4; 89:47).
