When I was a young boy there was a daredevil named Joie Chitwood who traveled all over performing “death defying” stunts in his automobile at fairs and other outdoor events. It was exciting and thrilling to watch his show because no matter how well planned and rehearsed the stunts were, there was always the chance something could go wrong. Although he risked his safety for money and fame, Joie Chitwood did not defy death.
When I joined the Air Force I took an oath to defend the Constitution and my country from our enemies. I was willing to fight to my death to defend our country. Through the years men and women have risked their lives to defend our nation. We celebrate Memorial Day to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, but even our veterans have not defied death.
I have tremendous respect and admiration for first responders who rush toward danger while the rest of us run away. They challenge death every day and they don’t do it to entertain us or defend our country. They do it to save the lives of total strangers. They are very well-trained, but some still lose their lives in the effort. Even those brave men and women do not defy death.
Enoch avoided death when God took him (Hebrews 11:5) but he didn’t defy death.
Those who Jesus raised from the dead may have seemed to defy death for a time, but death eventually caught up with each of them.
In the history of mankind only one person has defied death. Jesus came into the world to reveal God to us and to die on the cross as a once and for all, blameless sacrifice for our sins. That act of supreme love for all who would believe did not end on the cross or even in the tomb. Jesus defied death by going right though it for us and coming out on the other side eternally alive so that we may follow Him into eternity when we confess our sins and put our faith in Him. When we believe in Jesus, we also put our faith in the One who sent Him on His death defying mission of love.
When I responded to that altar call more than six decades ago, I knelt at the foot of the cross and a Christian worker prayed with me and recited John 3:16, inserting my name. “For God so loved Jim Anderson, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that Jim Anderson can believe in Him and not perish but have everlasting life.” At that moment, Jesus’ death defying love became real and personal to me. I prayed the sinner’s prayer and accepted His grace and His Holy Spirit within me. That act of faith didn’t change me into a saint or even make me more righteous, but it did change me. I became a sinner saved by God’s grace, who relies on Jesus’ righteousness to make it possible for me to become a child of God and walk with the Holy Spirit’s guidance one step at a time.