Lives On The Line

“I don’t know any other way to say it but they are like suicide fighters in a war.” That’s how one Japanese described the employees of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) now hailed as “The Heroes of Fukushima.” (Source: “From A Distance,” Carmen N. Pedrosa, Philippine Star, March 19, 2011) Japan has set a 20-kilometer safety radius. The US of A set it at 50 kilometers. These workers are right there in the nuclear plant complex. They are racing to keep the nuclear reactors at Fukushima from melting down. A worker saw the situation “like a death sentence” while another one e-mailed his wife saying,“Please continue to live well. I cannot be home for a while.” (Ibid) The Straits Times of Singapore published a blog entry of Tepco worker Michiko Otsuki. She wrote, “In the midst of the tsunami alarm, at 3 a.m. in the night when we couldn’t even see where we were going, we carried on working to restore the reactors from where we were, right by the sea, with the realization that this could be certain death… Fighting fatigue and empty stomachs, we dragged ourselves back to work. There are many who haven’t gotten in touch with their family members, but are facing the present situation and working hard… Everyone at the power plant is battling on, without running away… There are people working to protect all of you, even in exchange for their own lives.” (Ibid) They did not just risk their lives. They actually laid their lives on the line. They are as good as dead already. “It is a voluntary suicide from a fate they will not escape – either they die or if they survive the horrendous exposure they would be prone to life-long illnesses. With reports that the brave efforts may be futile the story of the heroes of Fukushima becomes doubly tragic.” (Ibid)

God called us to give our lives to Him. Obeying the Lord Jesus is not just about taking a risk. It is actually becoming a living sacrifice. “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” (Romans 12:1, NLT) I like how The Message goes:“Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” This is not too much to ask when we think of what He has done to us and for us. But it is not suicide. It is surrender.

Brethren, let us put our lives on the line for the Lord.

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