Coming to Know Love

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need — how can God’s love reside in him? Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action. This is how we will know we belong to the truth and will convince our conscience in His presence,
1 John 3:16‭-‬19 HCSB

Laying down our lives, what does that look like? Allowing you to inconvenience me? However, laying down my life for you does not mean I will kill, destroy or stand by while you do. The modernists believe Christians should shut up and put up with all manner of things. Yet if I do not raise my voice for the unborn, who will? If I do not defend the elderly, who will? Justice demands that I oppose wickedness.

So then, what does laying down my life really mean? Willing to be ill thought of for justice, willing to be unpopular for those without a voice, for a start.

However, the above scripture refers to another way of laying down our lives: giving to the poor. There are many poor. There are many in need in a time when we in the west hold on to what we have for ourselves, just in case we might need it, or for retirement. If we mismanage what God gives us we put it in a bag full of holes, it will disappear anyway.

What did John have? We are not told what he did not have but what he did have was an awesome relationship with His Lord. His writings in the gospel of John and his epistles show a man who knew His saviour and loved Him dearly. John's treasure was of a totally different nature to ours.

In your rush to get, stop, pause and reflect on the life of John. What can it tell us? What changes can we make?