LISTEN ONLINENadav was just 300 metres away from becoming the youngest Israeli to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Four climbers had died that weekend, and conditions were treacherous. It was all he could do just to keep breathing and walking, breathing and walking, focusing on survival and reaching the top.
Suddenly he halted. Irmak, his new friend, lay unconscious in the ice—without oxygen or gloves. Should Nadav ensure his own survival and record-breaking, or attempt to rescue him? While others walked on by, he didn’t hesitate. For eight hours he carried him down. Nadav saved a life that day.
What struck me is how hard it must have been for him to give up that long-held dream, risking his own life to save another. Though this example is extreme, I’m thinking about the micro-decisions we face each day between “selfish ambition” (Philippians 2:3) and looking “to the interests of others” (v. 4). By asking God to give us “the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (v. 5) who “humbled himself . . . even [to] death on a cross!” ( v. 8), we can become more loving in our everyday living.
Nadav acted like Jesus, who “made himself nothing” in order to save others (v. 7). Yet however remarkable Nadav’s sacrifice was, it was nothing compared to Jesus’ sacrifice in becoming human, taking “the nature of a servant” (v. 7), and dying for us. How costly Jesus’ love is.