We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16
At the root of love, Scripture makes very clear, is sacrifice. You see, Jesus Himself said in John 15:13, "there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." According to this verse, love is rooted in sacrifice. Not long after making this statement, Jesus proved His love by sacrificing His own life for the sins of the world. And before He left Earth and returned to Heaven, He called His followers to also demonstrate sacrificial love.
We have been learning throughout our study of 1 John that followers of Christ are to be marked by their love. In chapter three of 1 John, John goes into more detail of what that love is to look like. One of the key attributes of this kind of love, John explains, is sacrifice that is modeled after Jesus' sacrifice for us. "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters," John writes. You see, Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, paid the ultimate price when He died on the cross for our sins. If He was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice, you and I are not exempt from living sacrificially.
As John wrote these words, perhaps he was thinking about the words of Jesus that are recorded in Matthew 20. In some of His last moments with His disciples, Jesus expressed that in order to be truly great, one must become a servant. "Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be a servant," Jesus said (verse 27). This upside-down way of thinking was to be the new way of life for followers of Jesus, and it is still the way of life today.
Our world today often teaches us to look out for ourselves and that selfishness is okay. It teaches us that our needs are most important. Sacrifice is not often championed. There is a better way to live, Jesus taught. You see, true love is sacrificial. True love fights for the needs of others, even if it is sometimes at the expense of ourselves.
When you think about your life, do you love sacrificially, or do you find yourself only looking out for yourself or what you need? What changes can you make to live and love sacrificially? Begin to make changes starting today.
Our call today is to look past our own needs and think of someone whom we can show love to. Do you know someone who is in need today, someone you can reach out to? How can you sacrificially love them and serve them today? Determine to do the most loving thing today.
Read Matthew 20:20-28 (NLT)
Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. “What is your request?” he asked.
She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”
But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”
“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”
When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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