Today's Devotional

April 16, 2002

Subject:  Risking Death

2Corinthians 10:4 - "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds."  

Rendering aid to wounded soldiers in the midst of a heated battle is a risky and treacherous proposition.  I thought about this deeply recently while watching the movie Black Hawk Down.  If there was ever a heated battle, that was one.  Approximately 100 soldiers dropped smack dab in the middle of 5,000 enemy forces who were out to kill them.  The enemy forces were successful in killing 17 of them.  One of the factors that kept that number as small as it was, was the ready action of the army medics who always travel with the combat forces.  While these men have some combat training, their job is to render medical aid to the wounded.  What always strikes me about watching these men in action is their seemingly total disregard for their own lives in order to save others.  

Are we as believers willing to take risks to save the spiritual lives of others?  In most cases I've observed, we are not.  Sadly, the churches I've attended in the past have soldiers who would rather shy away from the spiritually wounded lest they should get any blood on themselves.  After all, it looks bad if I hang out with "so and so" because everybody knows she's sleeping around.  Then we support it with our best scriptural passages like, "the bible says that bad company corrupts good character."   If that is our attitude toward dealing with wounded soldiers, our character really doesn't have much left to corrupt.  It's really an issue of what we're willing to risk in this spiritual war.  Sometimes even the medics get wounded and need aid also.  Remember 2Corinthians 10:4 says, "for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal..."  The risks we take would therefore be taken as we wield the spiritual weapons of love, peace, kindness, forgiveness...etc.  I think the parable of the Good Samaritan is quite analogous to what we are to be as spiritual medics to wounded and hurt people.  While the "religious" people passed by the wounded man, perhaps thinking about what might happen to them or perhaps because he was not like them, the Samaritan chose to take these kinds of risks.  It's like they have no fear of dying.  For believers, that's why it's so important for us to die to self, which happens when we are crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).  If we die that death, then we don't fear another.  

Carlen