How do you know if someone truly loves you? It isn’t by the words that they say or the gifts that they buy; it’s by how they show it. Are they willing to lay down their lives for you? That doesn’t mean they are eager to take a bullet for you. Christ laid down his life for us when he died on the cross. Are you ready to lay down your life for your brothers and sisters in Christ?
1 John 3:16-18
By this, we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
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In a world where love has been diluted to the point, it doesn’t mean anything anymore, the Apostle John gives us a good idea of what true love is. Love is laying down your life for others. Jesus set the example when he died for our sins. It revolutionizes our lives when we understand his love for us. It also shows the way for how we are to live our lives.
Words are Cheap
You don’t honestly know how to love until you learn to lay down your life. Words are cheap. We may mean them with all of our heart, but if they aren’t backed up with action, they are meaningless. John tells us that if we see any one of our brothers or sisters in Christ in need and we don’t help them love isn’t in our heart. Laying down your life can happen in many ways. It may take money on your part, or it may mean you have to interrupt your schedule so you can attend one of their needs.
Lay Down Your Life
The church would do good to talk a lot less and do a lot more. It’s so easy to tell someone you will be praying for them instead of being with them in their time of need. Lay down your life for those around you. In the process, you will discover a life you never knew existed, a love that permeates every area of your life.