Faith Revealed through Sacrifice

     Given the events in our nation over the past year plus, I would suggest that the laying down of one’s life for his or her friends has become a frequent occurrence.  With 600,000+ deaths in the U.S. and approximately 3 million worldwide from the Coronavirus, the number of people laying down their lives for their friends is countless.  Nurses, doctors, caretakers, service providers and even common folk like you and me are risking their own lives to help those stricken by this virus.  While the statistics that flash up on the nightly news become routine to the viewer, the act of laying one’s life down for another never becomes routine.  I believe that when someone willingly puts his well-being at risk for the well-being of another, he is entering an arena of faith and his faith is revealed.  The evidence of things unseen or faith becomes very real to both the person at risk and the one trying to intervene on his behalf.  What is occurring is an interaction between the natural with the supernatural, where life and death meet.  It is an environment where the common response is a release of faith in the participants of the moment.    That is why soldiers pray on the battlefield (never having been on one personally I know I would be doing just that).  And why people ask for prayer when seriously ill, regardless of their formality or maturity of faith.  One does not lay his life down for another with the intent to find or increase his faith.  One enters such a situation equipped with some measure of faith that has been developed prior to this event.  What is revealed at a time like this is the measure of faith with which each of us is equipped.  It is my belief that no matter how strong a measure of faith we have for these moments we will always be open to receive words of faith from those going through that experience with us.