“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his
life for his friends” John 15:13 (NASB)
A strong majority of people (including myself) read this scripture and immediately think of the
situation of dying heroically to save another person. To fully explain the thought,
consider the movie/tv cliche: there’s a man with a gun threatening the life of one character and another character screaming “Nooo!” jumps in the way off the
bullet just in time. I believe that we would all like to think ourselves brave
enough to take a bullet for the people we care about, but I don’t believe that
this is the only point the verse is trying to make. We jump to this conclusion
simply because it’s stated by the man who died for all of mankind’s sins
(Jesus), representing that He has loved us in the highest way. It also may have to do with our action-obsessed culture in America, but that's a different story all by itself.
Jesus
didn’t just make sacrifices when it came to His death, but His entire life up
to that point was filled with selfless acts.
Hopefully, you and I may never be entered into the situation where we
get to prove our courage by jumping in front of a bullet. So how can we show or
even help our love of those around us grow by everyday life? Simple. Give your
life up to those people. An hour spent listening to a person you love rant about
how their co-worker is just so rude to them, is an hour spent giving your time
and attention to them. We live in a culture that generates a lot of
self-centered lifestyles, but you can simply share the greatest love just by
giving up a bit of your money, time, and attention. There are people around you who feel weary, broken, and alone. We, as Christians, personally know the love of Christ, while some people don't even know what love feels like. Live your life with purpose and give your love to them as Christ would.
Carl J. Bromley
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