“In the 1993 movie In the Line of Fire, Clint Eastwood played Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan. Horrigan had protected the life of the president for more than three decades, but he was haunted by the memory of what had happened thirty years before. Horrigan was a young agent assigned to President Kennedy on that fateful day in Dallas
“For thirty years afterward, he wrestled with the ultimate question for a Secret Service agent: Can I take a bullet for the president?
“In the climax of the movie, Horrigan did what he had been unable to do earlier—he threw himself into the path of an assassin’s bullet to save the chief executive.
“Secret Service agents are willing to do such a thing because they believe the president is so valuable to our country and the world that he is worth dying for. Obviously they would not take a bullet for just anyone.
“At Calvary the situation was reversed. The President of the Universe actually took a bullet for each of us. At the Cross we see how valuable we are to God.” Story by Douglas G. Pratt in 1001 Quotes, Illustrations and Humorous Stories.
Sound familiar? Consider Romans 5: 8 (The Message):
“But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son
in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”
God knew that you and I could never, ever, not in a million years of trying, be good enough to get into heaven. We couldn’t because of the rebellion and sin that is part of our human condition. So Jesus said, “I’ll take care of that.”
Jesus is that baby in the manger whose birth we will celebrate Saturday. That baby lived a perfect life, yet was tempted in every way that you and I have ever been tempted to sin. He died on a Roman cross to pay the fine, the penalty, for your rebellion and mine. Jesus took the bullet that was meant for you and for me so that we could live in heaven, in relationship, with God forever.
He did not wait until we got our acts together or cleaned ourselves up. He did it before we even recognized we needed Him. Have you asked Him to be your Best Friend? What better time than at Christmas to ask Jesus into your heart and life!
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