Alive Because Of Another Person

Kevin Payne writes: I am alive today because of the death of another person.

One afternoon when I was 16 years old, I began to feel sick while at school.  I finished the school day, but by the time I got home, I was feeling very badly.  My symptoms were not unusual: fever, chills, fatigue, body aches.  My wife and my mother will both tell you that I don't get sick very often, and when I do I usually do my best to ignore it.  This time something was different, and for some reason I was scared.  When I called my mother at work, she could hear it in my voice.  Instead of telling me to get some fluids and go to bed, she had my father come pick me up and take me to the doctor.  It was at this juncture that my life was spared due to the death of another.

About a year earlier, a boy name Ricky, who was 1 or 2 years younger than I, had become ill with the same sort of symptoms.  His family doctor was not too concerned by it and treated him for Strep.  Three days later, Ricky was dead.  What the doctor had thought was a Strep infection had in fact been Septicemic Plague.  Septicemic is the rarest of the 3 major forms of plague, and it is also the most deadly.  In medieval times, the mortality rate was 99-100%.  But now, if caught early and with the right treatment, it can be cured in most cases.

Because of Ricky’s death, the doctors in our community were on the lookout for this disease.  When I arrived at the doctor's office, I had a 104 degree fever, and they did a blood draw and found my white blood count was extremely high.  I was admitted to the hospital, and treatments were started immediately for the Plague.  Here I am 30 years later because of it.*

Each and every one of us is “plagued” by sin: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  But as Payne notes: “Left untreated, the plague of sin has a 100% mortality rate.  But with the right treatment, it is 100% curable.”

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

The gift of Jesus is God’s cure for our “plague” of sin.  “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God will save and give the gift of eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

Payne observes: “Young Ricky did not knowingly give his life so that mine would be spared.  However Christ knowingly and willingly gave His life so that each of us would be spared.”

Jesus died for us – for our sins – so that we might live.

Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and eternal life on His terms?

-- David A. Sargent

* Slightly adapted from “Alive Because of Another Person” by Kevin Payne as the article appeared in Daily Bread (3/14/2016), an email ministry of the Bear Valley church of Christ in Denver, CO. See www.bearvalleycofc.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister