Does the Church Need You?

Published: Nov. 12, 2020, midnight

b'The time: World War II. The place: a printing shop in a village in the Netherlands. Several men, including my grandfather, were busy working for the resistance, printing pamphlets against Hitler and the Nazis. They had been sending these pamphlets through the Underground for a long time to build support for the resistance.\\nSuddenly, the thing they had long feared came to pass! There was a banging on the door and a great deal of yelling as the German SS entered.\\nEveryone in the shop was arrested and jailed. They all pleaded innocent to working in the resistance\\u2014but, of course, they were guilty.\\nSome of the men were killed immediately, and the rest were interrogated. The SS wanted names of other resistance workers, so they beat the men to try to get that information. One man, we\\u2019ll call him Willem, returned from an interrogation session very badly wounded. Expecting not to survive the next day\\u2019s questioning, Willem spoke with my grandfather and gave him his wedding ring. Willem wanted his wife to have it should he die, so he asked my grandfather to take it to her, if my grandfather survived and was released.\\nFortunately for my grandfather, no one mentioned his name as a resistance worker. The Germans accepted his claim to innocence\\u2014that he just \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153happened\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d to be there at the time of the raid\\u2014and they let him go. One of the first things he did was bring Willem\\u2019s ring to his widow.\\nRomans 5:7 says it\\u2019s rare that someone will die for someone else, but Willem did. By refusing to give the names of co-conspirators in the resistance, he saved several lives, including my grandfather\\u2019s, and condemned himself to death.\\nThe Bible also says Jesus gave his life for us, but not because we were friends or partners. Romans 5:8 tells us, \\xe2\\u20ac\\u0153While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.\\xe2\\u20ac\\x9d Sinners! Those who disobey God\\u2019s perfect law. We were enemies, even (Romans 5:10)! But, because of His great love for us, Jesus gave His life for ours! \\u2022 Rosanne Eising\\n\\u2022 Can you think of a time when someone gave up something for you or when you gave up something for someone else? \\n\\u2022 To learn more about what Jesus\\u2019 sacrifice means for you, check out our \\u201cKnow Jesus\\u201d page.\\nNo one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 (CSB)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nRomans 12:6-8'