No Greater Love

The Bible says: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13 (KJV)

One hundred and sixty-three years ago on another Wednesday July 1, a man dressed blue was fighting a battle for his nation. As he was part of a confused withdrawal through that county seat, he was mortally wounded. Pulling a daguerreotype from his pocket, he looked at his three soon to be orphaned children. On July 5^th as the Union Troops once again liberated that county seat the heat of the intervening days had so decomposed, bloated, and blacked his body that he could not be identified. Then the picture of his children caught the burial detail’s eyes. The press took up the search for his identity and spread that likeness all over the North. Eventually, Mrs. Phylinda Humiston of Portville, New York, realized that her husband, Sergeant Amos Humiston of Company C, New York Volunteers, had been killed in action. He had left is home and joined other young men and had given, as Lincoln said, “the last full measure of devotion” for his country.

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ traded His royal robes for swaddling clothes, His royal throne for a manger and came to this earth that He created to pay a price we could not pay. John the Baptist identified Jesus in John 1:29 (KJV) “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Jesus led a sinless life and willingly laid down His life on a cruel cross to purchase a free gift for anyone who would accept it by faith. It is the duty of each and every Believer to tell all they can of the blessed hope we have in Him alone. Have you told anyone lately about the heaven to gain and the hell to avoid? 

Daily Chronological Bible Reading: Obadiah; Psalm 82-83