“Christ gave His life for all, so all believers will worship in awe!”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – October 28, 2022
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:12-13
Love gives life. Relational life. Emotional life. Spiritual life. Work life. Physical life. The mind-set of self-denial is the environment love has its greatest outcomes. Charles Spurgeon describes: “Love and self-denial for the object loved go hand-in-hand. If I profess to love a certain person, and yet will neither give my silver nor my gold to neither relieve his needs, nor in any way deny myself comfort or ease for his sake, such love is contemptible. It wears the name, but lacks the reality of love. True love must be measured by the degree to which the person loving will be willing to subject himself to crosses and losses, to suffering and self-denials. After all, the value of a thing in the market is what a man will give for it, and you must estimate the value of a man’s love by that which he is willing to give up for it. What will he do to prove his affection? What will he suffer for the sake of benefiting his be-loved? Greater love for friends has no man than this that he lay down his life for them.” Christ gave His life for all, so all believers will worship the Lord in awe!
Jesus spoke words of life that were backed up by the selfless giving of His life. He taught a great act of love was generously giving of one’s possessions. He commended the stranger who stopped to love the beaten-up man robbed of his goods. Jesus loved the sick by healing them from their dreaded diseases. The Lord loved by feeding the poor and caring for the dying. Christ loved when He helped businessmen grow their enterprise as an illustration of His power and generosity. But the greatest love of Jesus Christ was when He gave His life on the bloody cross. There is no greater love than when a life is given for another life. Death in exchange for life is the best love can give.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Your love is life-giving. When a child acts childish—acting out his selfishness from a place of exhaustion, take a step back and with empathy choose to offer life-giving patience and understanding in response to his momentary melt down. Remember how you are tempted to be childish with your selfish desires when you lack a good night’s sleep. Fatigue is not an excuse for bad behavior, but is a reason to extend a loving response to give another space to admit their wrong and be comforted and forgiven in the process. Love gives life…even to those who suck out life.
To the extent you abide in the life-giving love of Jesus, you have the capacity to absorb life draining circumstances and people. As Spurgeon said, “True love must be measured by the degree to which the person loving will be willing to subject himself to crosses and losses, to suffering and self-denials.” Like Jesus, your true self, and true love is revealed when you give yourself for another self. Fully human, Jesus Christ walked your path of sorrow, your trail of tears. Stay connected in His unique yoke of love for you…connected where your burden is lifted and your fatigued faith finds rest and renewal. Love gives life as your life is hidden with Christ in God!
“Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I praise you that my life is hidden in Christ, so His life of love can flow through me, through Christ’s love and in Jesus’ name, amen.
Application
How can I set my heart above, so that on earth I am willing to serve others and give myself up for them?
Related Reading
Psalm 104:28; Matthew 6:1-4; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; Hebrews 13:16
Worship Resource
Encounter Worship: Love Lifted Me
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