Tuesday, October 19, 2010

How much interest did Christ take in you?

Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT)
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

The apostle writes to the Philippians to encourage them in their Christian duties. He exhorts them to be more like Christ by humbling themselves before others. They should put aside selfishness and pride. They should attend not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others. Paul is encouraging them to do as Christ said, “Love one another.”

Richard Manning and Ray Brennan had been friends since Marine training school in Quantico, VA. During the Korean War, the unit in which the two Marines served arrived in Pusan in the fall of 1951. It was a little after midnight, and a light snow was falling. Huddled in the bunker, the two were passing a cigarette back and forth when a hand grenade landed squarely between them. Ray Brennan spotted it first. He nonchalantly flicked the cigarette butt aside and fell on the grenade. It detonated instantly, but Brennan's stomach absorbed the explosion. He winked at Manning and rolled over dead. Four years later, Manning entered the priesthood. When he took his vows, he took a new name to symbolize his new life in Jesus Christ. He changed his given name to Brennan Manning in memory of his friend. One summer, Father Brennan Manning dropped in on Ray Brennan's widowed mother in Chicago. After dinner, they were reminiscing about the days when Ray was alive. Unexpectedly, the priest asked, "Ma, do you think Ray really loved me?" "Oh, Brennan," she laughed, "You can't ever be serious." "I am serious," Brennan replied. She looked at him in disbelief. She stood up and screamed in her Irish brogue, "Good Lord, man, what more could he ha' done fer ya?" I've been thinking about that question. Sometimes when I am disappointed; disillusioned; or doubting Jesus Christ--I need to ask myself: "what more could He have done for me?"

[Richard Anderson, Christ Presbyterian Church, quotes from The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning]

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