The Lincoln story

During the American Civil War President Lincoln had a husky football player as his personal secretary. In those days there was no office machinery. A secretary quite literally pushed an inkpen.

This secretary was not happy with his work. He wanted to be out on the battlefield where the action was. He wanted to do great things for his country and not sit in an office and do this unimportant job. So he kept complaining about this whenever the president came by.

Finally one day Lincoln became impatient with him and said, "Young man, as I see it, you are quite willing to die for your country, but you are not willing to live for it."

Our Lord says in John 15, 13: "No one has a greater love than he who lays down his life for his friends." We can lay down our life by dying for somebody. Or we can lay down our life by living for somebody. It can make us just as big a hero to do that. And it may be harder to do, because we have to keep on doing it.