Senior Living - June 16

The greatest gift you could ever receive

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6:23

On May 2, 1962, a dramatic advertisement appeared in the San Francisco examiner that said,

I don’t want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not commit. I will therefore offer my services for 10 years as a cook, maid, or housekeeper to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.

One of San Francisco’s greatest attorneys, Vincent Hallinan, read the ad and contacted Gladys Kidd, the desperate wife who had placed it. Her husband, Robert Lee Kidd, was about to be tried for the slaying of an elderly antique dealer. Kidd’s fingerprints had been found on a bloodstained sword in the victim’s shop.

During the trial, Hallinan proved that the antique dealer had not been killed by the sword, and that Kidd’s fingerprints and blood on the sword got there because Kidd had once toyed with it while playfully dueling with a friend when they were both out shopping. The jury, after 11 hours, found Kidd to be not guilty. And when the trial was over, Attorney Hallinan refused Gladys Kidd’s offer of 10 years servitude.

Unselfish acts like these don’t happen every day. Yet even this act of generosity pales in comparison to what Christ did for you—dying to give you eternal life, knowing that you’d never be able to pay Him back. So thank God today for His wonderful free gift of salvation and live your life to offer that gift to others!

Prayer Challenge

Tell God “thank you” for sending Jesus to die so that you can have the free gift of eternal life. Pray that He would give you the courage to offer this free gift to others as well.

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