On 31 May 2009 the Air France flight 447, going from Rio to Paris, fell in the ocean near the northeast of Brazil. Junior dos Santos, a crew member and son of officers friends of ours should have been in that flight.
Not feeling well that day, Junior decided to swap his turn with another cabin assistant who gladly replaced him. Approximately at 2:30 am the flight disappeared in the Atlantic, killing 228 passengers, including his colleague that gladly replaced him. If his friend would have known that the plane would crash he would certainly not have agreed with the swop.
We read in the Bible that something similar has happened with us, not by chance but intentionally. Jesus voluntarily took our place and suffered the death penalty that, for our sins, we should have suffered. Jesus swapped shifts with us and paid the price for our sins. Now we can have life because he died in our place.
Sin is a word that has gotten worn out in our vocabulary. At times it has received an overly prohibitive meaning, and at some times an overly permissive one. However, taking Jesus’ summary about the divine law, which is “to love God above all else and to love others as ourselves”, we can say that sin is not to Love God above all else, nor to love others as ourselves.
Due to our lack of love for the Creator, or as it is said our rebellion against Him, we should be punished, but God so loved and loves us, that He sent his son to die in our place. Jesus accepted to change places with us, He accepted to take our seat. He died for us on the cross to grant us life, enabling us to love gener! Now we can live being loved and loving!
- How has sin taken place in your life?
- How has God enabled you to love yourself and others?
(The reward of sin, Romans 3:23 / The result with Jesus, John 10:10)
Commissioner Torben Eliason is the Territorial Commander of the Southern Africa Territory.