Saving Lives
There is this song on the radio, sometimes on Christian radio stations too, called “How to Save a Life” by The Fray. It has been out for a while, but even now when I hear it, I listen. It is a pretty good song, but the real reason why I listen is the title and lyric, “And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life.”
According to a band related website, the song was inspired by the lead singer’s experience as a mentor at a camp for troubled teens. One (click on the word video to watch it) video for the song shows the band performing the song as many “regular” people with different emotions are shown; some happy, some sad, mixed in with numbered steps (of how to save a life), “have faith,” “believe,” “let go,” “remember,” and “say goodbye.”
I never worked at a camp like that, but already when I was in high school I was watching out for friends and adults even who were troubled by many things. And it was also at that time that I began to dream of saving lives – that continues to this day.
But what does that mean – saving lives? How does one save a life? From what are people saved? What does it look like? I know for a while, before I conceived of saving people in Biblical terms, I always thought of this line from a poem attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson titled, “Success.” The line reads, “To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” I always liked that. I wanted to be that person for people.
The song goes, “And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life.” I have stayed up at night praying and listening to people, trying to save them. I know for me it comes from a good place – a place of care and compassion. For me “saving” someone has meant being an instrument of hope in the midst of despair; never quitting on someone even when they wanted to (or when I sometimes didn’t want to keep trying); helping to make sense of senseless things; being proof of God and his love and grace in Jesus Christ; showing someone that they had value in this world when all else said otherwise.
How many times though have I wished that I could save a life? Maybe I have and I don’t know it. I know that I have prayed many times for God to use me in that way. My Dad used to be an EMT and I know he has saved many lives through CPR. What an amazing thing.
I fully confess there is something egotistical about thinking this way. Believe me, I have thought of that. Who am I to think that I can save others? Well, it’s not exactly like that. Don’t I need saving too? Yes, please! And in fact I can think of a bunch of times that I have been saved. Starting with God bringing me to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. But also my mother Kate deciding to keep me safe in her womb even though she wasn’t married and was under pressure to get an abortion. Another “save” was when a cute, very joyful girl named Jennifer at college who became my best friend and wife and has shown me unconditional love. Or a little boy named Brian who I literally dreamed of before he was born and whose birth opened me up to my life’s purpose and saved me from what would have been a miserable career track.
The thing is that God was working through all of those “saves” because in fact, God is the only one who can do the saving – eternally and in the living of our lives. And I guess what I am trying to do is use the gift of salvation and of abundant life that I have been given and extend it to others. Out of my brokenness, out of all that I have been given as well as lost, I reach out with a healing hand to others.
You see, as glorious as “saving lives” sounds, there is a cost – a cost mere mortals like you and me aren’t often willing to pay. The Jesus model of saving involves losing a life to save a life. He lost his life to save ours. His was no ordinary life though. It was the fact that He was the Son of God, and that He gave His innocent, sinless life that opened the door for eternal salvation and redeemed us. This is why we think of military, fire and police personnel with such regard, because they are willing to put their lives on the line for others at a great cost and sometimes at the ultimate cost.
And then there are these words of Jesus, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it (Mark 8:35).” Even to have the abundant life God promises, we have to lose ourselves in order to be saved from ourselves by Christ. Do you know what I mean?
“And I would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life.” How to save a life? It starts with a willingness to lose ourselves – our pride, our ego, our self-sufficiency, our sinfulness – in Christ. And then through that, it takes a willingness to lose and sacrifice ourselves on behalf of someone else – for no other reason than love, pure love, agape love – not because we get something out of it. Saving a life, truly saving a life, means losing a life or parts of a life.
Amen.
Discussion Questions
- Are there people in your life that you would love to save or have saved? What can be done for them?
- How do you define “saving a life?” What does it look like?
- Can you think of some times in your life when you sacrificed for someone else? What was the experience of that?
- Have you let Jesus save you yet? Or are you still trying to save yourself? If you want to, email or call me so we can talk about what that means.
Living Water 