Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."¹

George Robertson, a parachute safety and training adviser and a veteran of several hundred parachute jumps, followed six other sky divers out of a plane some 2.25 miles (3.6 kilometers) above the ground.

At approximately one mile (1.6 kilometers) the six attempted to link hands. One of the divers, Debbie Williams, accidentally collided with one of the other skydivers and knocked herself unconscious. Seeing her plight, Roberson tucked his arms to his side and, using his shoulders to steer himself, went after Debbie, Plunging downward at 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, he was able to catch her. Maneuvering her into a sitting position, Robertson yanked her rip cord. They were at 3,200 feet (823 meters)! At less than 2,400 feet (610 meters), he opened his own chute. Ten seconds later he would have slammed into the ground.

As Jesus said, there is no greater love than someone being willing to give or even risk his or her own life to save another's. But God's love for us is so much greater. As the Bible says, "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."²

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, because you loved me enough to die for me, please help me to love you enough to live for you every day for the rest of my life. And please use me to be a vital part of what you are doing in the world today to help save those who are plummeting toward eternal death without Christ and without hope. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

Note: To help reach others with the gospel in a simple and attractive way, please consider becoming a People Power for Jesus Partner (there is no cost involved). See http://www.actsweb.org/people_power02.php.

Also: If you have never thanked God for giving his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for all your sins and have never accepted Jesus as your Savior, I urge you to do this todayâ€"now. For help, please read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: www.actsweb.org/christian.

1. John 15:13.
2. Romans 5:7-8 (NIV).

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