Lay Down Your Life

“I just don’t have the time.” How many of us have said that before? Truth be told, we’ve probably already said it at least once this week. Our culture demands our undivided attention and requires countless hours we frankly don’t have to spare. Yet, despite all our busy schedules, we tend to make time for the things we care about the most, the places, activities, and people we love.

The Bible speaks frequently on the topic of love: what it is, how to grow it and show it. In fact, if I were to start right now and write every minute of the day, I couldn’t begin to explain the intricacies of love. I will, instead, choose one aspect of Christian love on which to focus this entry.

I have always been struck by “3:16.” The most famous of the “3:16”s is found in the Gospel According to John. Still, if you go to the other Bible books and read chapter three, verse sixteen, you will find some beautiful Scriptural jewels. One of the best, in my view, was also transcribed by John, this time in 1 John 3:16. It says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

To experience a fulfilled life, you must live according to the principle of this verse. The problem is that many people interpret this verse in a very linear fashion. For most people, this verse has something to do with loving your friends enough to die for them. This is an accurate interpretation.

Still, there is much more.

The death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is certainly the single greatest act of love the world has experienced. Jesus did, indeed, lay down His life on the cross for us. But more than that, He laid His life down for us in life!!!

Love, as we understand it, is expressed in words such as, “I love you.” It is also expressed in single acts, such as the heroism of a fire fighter losing his life trying to save others. But our comprehension of love seems to really be complete (from a human standpoint) when we see consistent love. If you see someone who is constantly showing love through their everyday existence, that is the strongest example of what true love really is.

Jesus did this by not only dying for us, but for living for us. His life was lived in service for and as an example for others. When we read 1 John 3:16, and look at it from this perspective, we see that we should not only love others enough that, on the off-chance it is necessary, we will die for them. We ought to be willing not only to die for others, but to live for others, too.

We are busy people. As Christians, though, we shouldn’t be so self-absorbed and so consumed with our own life that we forget those around us. We should be willing to live our lives in service of others, not just ourselves. I don’t mean that we never take time for ourselves, but that we never hesitate to spend time with people, talk with them, and share our thoughts, our emotions, our testimony, and our heart with them.

Nothing fulfills us quite so well as coming to the knowledge that it is truly more blessed to give than to receive. When we give of ourselves to others, when we stop and listen to someone needing an ear or a shoulder, when we smile and say a kind word or do something that is (or is not) asked of us, our hearts overflow with the blessings of God and the contentment of knowing that we are expressing the true love demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

If you are looking for joy and peace, for a sense of belonging or of making a difference, lay down your life for others. If you’re too busy to love others in this way, then you’re simply too busy. And, as we all know, a love shown is far more extraordinary than a love spoken. If you tell the Lord you love Him, great. But if you show it, it means so much more.

How do we show it? We show it best by showing love to others. Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:40, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Laying your life down for the brethren is much more than dying for someone else. It’s living for someone else. Does your life show that you truly love others, as well as the Lord?


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