living to die

I stared at the computer screen and read this post.

Then I clicked a link and found the whole story.

I read and I cried when I thought of a man who would live a life for the purpose of dying.

This Maximilian Kolbe, who, in the midst of Auschwitz suffering, starvation, and beatings would look not at himself but into the eyes of fellow prisoners and say,

“I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?”

How does a man look beyond his own great need and take the last place in the line for food, give the very little he has away, die so another man could live, all under the banner of his calling?

Then I remember that the banner God has placed above all of us is love.

I have read holy words that make this kind of sacrificial life seem… normal and not at all unusual.

The terrifyingly wonderful thought came to me:

Is anyone who is in Christ called to anything less than living to die?

More specifically, I began to wonder what can be learned from a priest in Auschwitz….

Last night, as Mr. Fantastic and I were tucked into our cozy bed, comfortable in our air-conditioned room, we spoke of our day. Our world is a far cry from the life of prisoners in a death camp.  He sighs deeply and says this:

“There are so many people I meet who are suffering. They face enormous personal problems.”

They may not be unfairly imprisoned by an evil government, but they are imprisoned by other things. We all are captives in so many ways. Loneliness, broken marriages, jobs that ask too much and pay too little, greed, addictions that gnaw away at lives, hatred, fear; sin of every kind shackles minds and hearts of the people around us.

After twelve years of doing ministry, and eighteen years of following Jesus, I am beginning to understand God’s heart for His people. I am learning that maybe He needs more of us to look at one another, forgetting our own needs and live like this:

        “I am a Christian. Can I do anything for you?”