While Everyone Else Was Running

            Screams echoed through the streets of Boston as the first and second explosion went off. Blood covered the sidewalks as people ran away in horror. No one knew another bomb wasn’t seconds away from going off. All anyone knew was that two bombs had exploded, and they had to run for their lives.

            As I watched the footage of that horrific day last week, a certain type of people caught my eye, those running back towards the explosions. They knew just as much as the people running away knew, yet they risked their lives to save another. While everyone else sprinted toward safety, they raced to save lives even if that meant losing their own.

            That’s what Christ has done for us.

            Jesus selflessly laid down His life for us almost 2,000 years ago. No, we didn’t deserve it, we couldn’t earn it, we can’t earn it, but we did deserve to die. Romans 5:6-8 state, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NIV).

            Even after we turned our backs on God, He came for us and paid the penalty for our sin. Pay close attention to this verse; it says someone could die for a good man (though it’s rare), but God died for sinners. He loved us that much.

            Let’s put dying for us into prospective. One of the criminals from Boston is now in custody and will be prosecuted  He helped kill and injure countless people. Would you take his place in prison or on death row? No, that would be insane, yet God did just that for all of us.

            We were destined to die a brutal death and live forever apart from God. Murder, hatred, gossip, white lies, disobedience, and countless other sins blackened our lives, but God ran toward us. When everyone else would have run away from us, He pursued us. He laid down His life so that we might live. The heroes of last week’s bombings were the perfect depiction of God’s love for us.

            Instead of letting us die and be separated from God for all eternity, He died. Even though we were guilty, he picked us up.

            While He should have been running away, He wasn’t.

Living Life Together,

Rebecca Thomas