It is about values worth living and dying for

NORSK
A couple of weeks back I wrote about “Faithfulness” and I used my granddad as an example. He was also very faithful when opportunity was given to testify, and he very often used the same verses and illustrations. For this reason, many of his family members still remember what he said. I can still “hear” him quoting the following verse from a Scandinavian song:

Fight for all that you hold dear
Die if necessary
Life is then worth living here
Death - no adversary. (1)

As a little boy, I thought the words were very dramatic, but after a while, I grasped the content. Unfortunately, the situation in the world, with suicide-bombing and terror, has made it problematic to write: “It is good to have values that are worth dying for”. All the same, I will stand firm on the statement: I will rather die believing that love will overcome evil, than to meet evil with evil. I have written similar things earlier (2). 

However, today it is about values worth living FOR:

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labour; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
Phil 1:21-22

Paul longed to be with Christ in eternity. At the same time, he was motivated by the fact that to continue to live here on earth would mean “fruit from his labour” – holy fruit, in his own life and from his life through people who would receive new life in Christ. To bear fruit is a motivation for my life here on earth. It is a God given and holy motivation.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about labour that bears fruit

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(1) I apologize for the translation, but I have not been able to trace an English translation of:
Kjemp for alt hva du har kjært,
dø om så det gjelder!
Da er livet ei så svært,
døden ikke heller.
(2) Only available in "google translate": "Derfor er kjærligheten mitt 'våpen' mot terror" og "Vi er i kamp"