Daily Devotions
He Took My Place
Reading for December 17th: Titus-Philemon
Weekly reading for December 13-19: Revelation 6-11
"For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Revelation 7:17
Maximilian Kolbe was put into Auschwitz in February 1941 for helping Jews escape from the Nazis. While there an escape took place and to teach the rest a lesson, ten people would be randomly taken to die of starvation and exposure.
A Polish Jew by the name of Frandishek Gasovnachek heard his name called. He cried out, "Wait, I have a wife and children!"
Kolba stepped forward and said, "I will take his place." He was taken into a cell with nine others. He died on August 14, 1941.
Gasovnachek was interviewed years later at the age of 82. He could not tell the story without weeping, even after all of those years. He showed the interviewer a marble monument that had flowers around it which read: IN MEMORY OF MAXMILLAN KOLBA. HE DIED IN MY PLACE.
Every year on August 14, Gasovnachek traveled to Auschwitz in memory of his friend who took his place.
Father, we bow before your throne and before the Lamb to give you blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might! He took our place so that we might have life! Glory be to his name forever and ever!
