I was watching Fox News this morning, and one of the news stories was about a 28 year old mom who died from water intoxication after trying to win a contest held by a local radio station -    ABC News - Woman in Water Drinking Contest Dies . The gist of the contest was the person who could drink the most water without having to bail to the bathroom would win a Wii.

I suppose I might enter some kind of contest to win something nice for my kids, but I am not sure I would enter a water drinking contest (or a billboard sitting contest or anything extroverted like that.)

And, I am sure that this Mom, or the radio station people had no idea you could actually die from water toxicity. At least I HOPE the radio station people would never hold a contest that could actually kill someone! And, I hope that this mom, or any mom for that matter, wouldn't knowingly risk her life for a game system for her kids.

But Moms do have an innate "Mother Bear" instinct to protect their kids. I have no doubt that if my kids were in danger, I would act to save them without thinking about my own safety first. But would I knowingly go to my death to save the life of someone I did not know and love?

Probably not - even though the Bible tells us to.  1 John 3:16 tells us, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers". Uh-oh. That's a tall order isn't it? My kids, my husband, my Mom or sister - maybe even my best friend. But someone I don't even know?

How blessed we are that our Savior KNEW his ultimate fate, and still took the walk to the cross. Oh, He asked God to "take this cup" from Him. But still, He obeyed. What if Jesus had only laid down His life for those of us who had earned His love? Well, He never would have had to make that sacrifice would He?

But, He gave His life freely, without conditions except that we confess our sins and accept Him as out Savior. Romans 10:9  "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

This week before Easter, let's reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for our eternal salvation. He gave up His life for something much more important that a toy. He gave up His life so that we can live eternally with Him. And more importantly, He arose from that grave 3 days later - that is truly love to the extreme.