Sacrificing Love

1 John 3:16-18

Verse 16  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

    We know the love that Christ has for us, but He has called us to give the gift of love to others as well.  He told us to love our enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44).  He never said it would be easy, He just said to do it.  And while that is important, it is harder to love those we don’t like if we aren’t truly loving the ones we do like.

    Our key verse for the day says that as Christians we should be willing to lay down our lives for each other because He did that for us.  Of course John is not saying that we should be physically dying for our fellow Christians on a daily basis, but do we lovingly sacrifice for them enough?  Jesus sacrificed more than His life for us.  We have mentioned about how He left heaven and the glory, power and majesty He had there since before the world was created.  He left it all behind to come to be the greatest sacrifice of all time.

    We like to think about loving others as simply being nice to them.  The truth is we often sell love short.  We think about the receiving of love more than the act of giving it.  We seek what we think would make us happy instead of thinking about what would be a blessing to the ones we say we love.  In thinking this way we miss what it really means to love others.

    Laying down our lives for someone else isn’t all about dying for them.  Putting another’s needs ahead of our own doesn’t come naturally and so it must be a choice.  John tells us that if we aren’t helping a fellow Christian in need, we aren’t truly loving our sibling in Christ.  The early Church was known for helping each other when a need arose.  They went so far as to sell things, even property, to make sure the others in the Church family had what they needed for basic survival.

    Material things aren’t the only things we need to be ready to sacrifice in order to love fellow believers.  Sometimes it is easier to offer to help someone financially than it is to be sacrificial with our time and energy.  We would rather buy someone chocolate therapy than take the time to hear about their struggles.  We don’t like to take the time out of our busy lives to help a fellow Christian, but they are exactly who we are called to love.  Remember, Jesus said that the world would know we belong to Him by our love for one another (John 13:35).

Making It Personal

    Have you ever felt loved because of someone’s sacrificial gift of love?  How can you be more sacrificial in your love of those in the Church?  Who needs your sacrificial love today?

Making It Personal Kids

    Do you always take the biggest cookie or do you leave it for someone else?  How does leaving it show love?  Who can you show love today?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for loving us so sacrificially.  Help us grow to be more loving of those in the Church.  Give us sacrificial hearts.  In Jesus’ name, amen.