Laying down our lives for others usually doesn't mean dying in the physical sense.
Dare 2 Share - Read: 1 John 3:16-24
Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. . --1 John 3:18
I once heard about a student that decided to impress his girlfriend by writing a love note, this is how it read:
Sweetheart, I'd climb the highest mountain, sail across the widest ocean, and cross the most blistering desert just to see you. P.S.--I'll be over Saturday night at 7:00 pm if it’s not raining too hard.
Here’s a guy who is pledging his affection despite the most challenging circumstances, yet would give up a date at the smallest inconvenience. What’s wrong with this picture? The same thing that is wrong with many of us. We talk a big game about loving others as Christ loved us, yet as soon as it starts to demand sacrifice, our idealistic intentions go out the window.
John said that Jesus Christ showed us what true love is when "He laid down His life for us." But John continued, "We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 Jn. 3:16). The Greek word used for love in 1 John 3:16 is agape. This is not the kind of love that operates only when it is convenient, or when it feels good. This kind of love is characterized by sacrifice. It is a love based on the will, not on emotions. It's not a feeling subject to the whims of our circumstances. It is a decision to love another despite the cost.
Laying down our lives for others usually doesn't mean dying in the physical sense. Yet what it will probably come down to is “dying” to your own agenda or preferences for the sake of someone else. Often it costs little more than stopping what we're doing and entering someone's world of need. I once felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to stop mowing my lawn to visit a neighbor. I was later able to share the gospel with this person, in part due to the friendship we had established during that visit. Was it an inconvenience for me to have to go back and finish the yard? Of course. Yet what was more important at that point: cutting the grass or listening to God?
Don't miss small opportunities to love by waiting for big ones. With agape love, even small acts of love are big.
Questions:
1) What opportunities have you had lately to share agape love with someone?
2) What ways do you regularly “lay down your life” for the people around you?
3) If sharing the gospel with someone is a perfect way of showing love, why aren’t we doing it more?
