That Others May Live

I’ve been thinking a lot about a show I watched last fall on the Discovery Channel called
Making the Cut. The one I watched was all about men trying to get into the Pararescueman program so that they could one day serve in this special force of the military.

For twenty one hours they drenched, half drown, shouted at, and demanded absolute alertness and strength from these soldiers who were being deprived of all the necessary things that make human life possible. Admittedly I felt a little bad as I sat comfortably on the couch watching these men suffer. Then at the very end of the show, in the dark, the remaining soldiers had to crawl into the building and as they did so they passionately proclaimed their motto: I will be prepared at all times to perform my duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do, that others may live.

These men were already soldiers in the U.S. military, honored servicemen giving their lives to defend others. Why? Why would you want to pursue this? Why would you want to be face down in the mud at 5 am while someone blasts your back with a hose and shouts at you to get moving?

I feel like I’m just as nuts as these men I saw on TV. I’m already a soldier, I’m already fighting for the Kingdom and putting my life on the line… yet I’m the nut who sees the “Special Forces” sign up list and longs to put my name on it. Why on earth do I want to do this!? Why do I want to suffer more? Generally the “special forces” are the ones who don’t just fight the enemy on the front lines they actually go in behind enemy lines to rescue and retrieve.

Why? That others may live. As much as I like comfortable things that don’t hurt, there’s one thing I desire more:

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
         That will I seek:
         That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
         All the days of my life,
         To behold the beauty of the LORD,
         And to inquire in His temple.

Psalm 27:4

Him. I desire to know Him and His heart at a level that far surpasses the ordinary. I am broken about what He is broken and despite myself and every warning my flesh tries to send me I can’t, not go. Whether I feel ready to admit it or not, I was not put here to live an ordinary existence, even in the Christian realm. There’s always been this adventure, a greater purpose that’s beckoned me to come away from what was acceptable and reasonable to something much deeper. From the moment I met Jesus this longing has been in my heart, the longing to go where no man has gone before, to go where the need is great because everyone else was too afraid to go there. Am I out of my mind!? My flesh screams within me “No don’t do it!” but my heart is pulled. What about them? Who will love them if I don’t go? Who will tell them about Jesus if I shrink back in fear? Jesus gave to me the greatest love anyone could ever bestow, He laid down his life for me, who am I not to do the same? Could I ever live peacefully knowing I had declined to give my all? I overheard the cashier at Wal-mart the other day tell an older couple, “Well I figure you only live once,” (she was talking about drinking fattening milk but) the statement jumped out at me. I only live once. Do I want to spend it trying to preserve myself and be as comfortable as possible or do I want to throw caution to the wind and say “Here I am Lord, send me.”

For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,

2 Corinthians 8:3