photo #8474696

"Reason to Live"God created mankind with an inbred instinct to love . Unfortunately, that propensity gets turned inward pretty much at birth. We first love ourselves, and secondarily we love those who love us. When Jesus declared that “greater love hath no man than this, that man lays down his life for his friend,” he put the focus back where it belonged. Loving others rather than self. If I love myself I’m not going to lay down my life for anyone, not matter what. One man discovered this during his ordeal with cancer. At age 56 he endured a treatment regime so severe, so painful, that he was afraid he “wouldn’t” die. Chemo, surgery, radiation. Mouth sores. A throat so raw he could barely swallow. Nausea so severe he couldn’t sit still long enough to read or watch television. "I spent nine months trying not to throw up," he says. The treatment wrecked his saliva glands and his taste buds. He lost 40 pounds and his will to live.But he had a young daughter. At first he thought, “I don’t want to miss her growing up,” which was motivating, but not very. A person rationalizes “well, I guess that’s not in the cards for me,” and tries not to think about it. This man’s thinking went in a different direction. He began to think of his young daughter growing up without a father and determined to fight though, not for his sake, but for hers. Let’s call the man “Dave.” What gave Dave a reason to endure the suffering of his treatment was not the pleasure he would get out of experiencing life with his daughter, as wonderful as that would be. It was the benefit he could bring to his daughter. What motivated Dave at the deepest level was selfless sacrifice for another. This is what love is supposed to look like. And we were made for this.