READ: John 15:9-14
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16
I remember a story that was reported in the Korean press. One of the children of an American family living in the U.S. had Asian features and it was obvious that he was not an original member of the family.
One day, this young man asked his father, “Daddy, how come I have Asian features but you all don’t? Where did you get me from?”
His father told the story: “Many years ago, I was a missionary in Korea when war broke out between the north and the south. Your mother and I were fleeing from the communist north to the south. It was a very cold wintry day. When we passed over a bridge your mother asked me to stop the car because she heard a baby crying. We ran from the car and went under a huge bridge.
There, we saw something amazing. A Korean lady had just given birth to a baby under the bridge. The lady had taken off all her clothes and wrapped her new baby in her clothes. Then, she had curled herself around the baby to protect it from the icy cold winter. The baby was alive and crying but the mother was frozen to death. That baby was you and your mother gave her life to save you.”
The young was moved with great emotion. He said to his father, “Please take me to the bridge where you found me.” When they got to the spot under the bridge, the young man took off all his clothes and lay stark naked on the ground. He wailed, “O Mama, it was cold on that night when you took off all your clothes and gave them to me. O Mama, it was so cold when you gave your life for me.”
This story teaches us about the love that makes a person give his life for another. This is the kind of amazing love that God demonstrated in sending Jesus to die for our sins!