Losing life or saving it.

"I have no fear of losing my life - if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it." - Steve Irwin

The Australian naturist and wildlife expert died on Monday filming a documentary.
He was not directly saving the Stingray that killed him but through his TV shows he has made millions of us more aware of the environment around us and the fragility of the wildlife that inhabits them. In doing so he has saved far more animals than he could ever possibly meet.

His passionate and sincere words reminded me of a similar passion that consumed a guy named Paul. He once wrote this in one of his letters to a church in the region of Galatia [which is now, roughly speaking, Turkey]:
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Gal 2:20

This man had a passion that burned even brighter than Steve's, but rather than passionate about wildlife he was sold out on sharing [eternal and real] life with everyone he met. When he met people he wanted them to experience Jesus. This is not to say that anyone would ever have mistaken Paul for Jesus but by meeting him he wanted people to know how passionately God loved them [for who they are]. He wanted people to see Jesus' attitudes flourishing in him.
Why?
Because at all costs he wanted to see lives saved from missing out on the life God wanted to give them to live.

Steve Irwin died while doing what he was passionate about. This was an accident and not deliberate but Paul knew [because of the political environment] that by living in this manner he was heading towards certain death, and yet he considered it worth living.

When Paul is saying 'Christ lives in me' he means that everything he did was done from an attitude that reflects that of Jesus, or he lived in a way that honoured Jesus, directing people to him; this is living obediently to Christ. He disowned every selfish ambition and adopted an ambition to see people living in a freedom that they have never experienced before (i.e. a freedom from insecurity, rejection, hurt etc).

For us to live for Christ in this manner requires us to die. Not physically, but to identify, understand and surrender our selfish habits and actions to Jesus.