“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”¹

According to Doug Batchelor in his book, Broken Chains, “There’s a story about two Filipino brothers, identical twins, who lived in Manila and made their living by driving jeepneys, Filipino taxis.* Though they were twins and had similar jobs, they lived very different lives. One was married and had children; the other was single. Then one day, the married brother accidentally struck and killed a tourist with his taxi. Accused of reckless driving, the twin was sentenced to twenty years in the notorious Manila prison—a devastating fate that would leave his wife and children without an income.

“One day, his twin came to visit him in prison. He said, ‘Brother, your family desperately needs you. Put on my clothes and take my visitor’s pass and I will put on your prison uniform and serve the rest of your sentence. Go to your family.’ So, while the guards were not looking, the twins exchanged clothes, and the married brother walked out of the prison unchallenged. Do you think the twin who was freed could ever stop thinking about the sacrifice that his brother made in trading places with him?”²

Though having limitations it is still a powerful illustration of what Jesus Christ did for you and me at Easter time 2,000 years ago when he exchanged places with you and me and died in our place on the cross of Calvary. He did this out of his great love for us to pay the penalty for all of our sins, so we could be freely forgiven by God and receive his gift of eternal life in Heaven to be with him forever.

If you have never thanked Jesus for dying in your place to pay the penalty for your sins and accepted God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life, I urge you to do this today. For help please go to http://tinyurl.com/8glq9 or click on the Know God button link below.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank you enough for your great act of love in giving your Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, and Jesus, for dying in my place to pay the penalty for all my sins? I believe and, Lord Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior. And because you died for me please help me always to live for you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. John 15:13 (NIV).
2. Doug Batchelor, Broken Chains, Pacific Press 2004.
Cited on WITandWISDOM www.witandwisdom.org.
*Joy has ridden in jeepneys when on a mission trip in the Philippines. Some of these in some of the places are old converted military jeeps.

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