There Is No Greater Love Than To Lay Down One's Life For His Friends

JOHN 15:12-13

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15:12-13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

https://www.bible.com/114/jhn.15.12-13.nkjv

Jesus said, “we are to love one another as I have loved you.”

My beloved, love is the very foundation of God’s way of life.

He said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:37-40‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Can you imagine being in a court of law being found guilty of murder, waiting for your sentence. And then the judge says, “You are guilty of murder and the sentence should be death.”

But then the judge goes on to say, “however, I am a merciful judge, and I myself will pay your debt of sin with my own blood by taking your place on a cross; you are therefore free.

My beloved, that is exactly what Christ Jesus did for you and for me and indeed the whole world.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Furthermore, having experienced death and the grave, on the third day Jesus overcame death forever and was risen.

There is no greater love than this, when a man gives up his life for another, and Christ did just that.

Jesus tells us, “you must love one another as I have loved you.”

Love is more than just words or emotions, it is a decision and continuous actions of selfless acts of care and good toward others.

We may not have to die for others, but there are other ways to practice sacrificial love.

To love others as one’s self is to care enough to meet the needs of those who can’t help themselves without any expectation of anything in return.

It means caring for others needs as we care for our own.

Paul said, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Who can you help today?

Giving may not  necessarily be about physical help or money, but rather to lift someone up to God with a simple prayer.

Don’t underestimate the power of prayer, it changes lives.

But whatever you do to a brother or sister in Christ, you do it to Jesus.

He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me (MATHEW 25:40).”

Whatever act of good or indeed evil, that you do for or to another, you do it also to Christ. (MATHEW 5:43-44).

Having said that, giving foolishly may lead one into poverty and undermine Gods work in others.

We are called to help the needy, not subsidise the greedy, and a fool and his money are quickly parted.

Therefore, all giving must be by the leading of the Holy Spirit within.

All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.