I was thinking of some of my favorite all-time movies, and the thought of one of them then proceeded to haunt me.  The movie I'm thinking of is Saving Private Ryan.  I don't know why I flashed back to this movie, nor do I know why I remember the scene so vividly, but I've been thinking about the scene after the final battle ("Hold the Bridge!"), when Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) whilst bleeding out from a wound, pulls Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) down to his level and exclaims in a pained whisper, "Earn this, James.  Earn it."  Tom Hanks, or Captain Miller, rather, then proceeds to take his final breath.

Throughout the course of the movie, an older James Ryan is shown at Arlington National Cemetary at the grave site of Captain Miller crying his eyes out, at one point asking his wife if he has lived a good life.  This moment of cinematical genius had haunted this character for all the years of his life.  This moment really got me thinking about my life.

You know, I'm a lot like Private Ryan.  We all are.  We were all living our lives behind enemy lines, with no hope of support or rescue, when Jesus Christ came down to lay his life on the cross for us.  Much like Captain John Miller faced wartime enemies, Jesus faced the devil, he faced the world, and he sacrificed himself for you and for me.  The big difference though, he never pulled us to him and told us to earn it. 

We can't earn everlasting life.  We cannot do anything to receive Christ's sacrifice and deserve it.  It was done because God loved us that much.  God loved us so much, he gave his son for our salvation (John 3:16).  But rather than be haunting that we can't earn His love, it is relieving that all we need to do is accept Christ as our savior and abide in him, and we will be counted worthy.

Bobby