True Love . . .

Hello everyone! Sorry the blog is two days late this week . . . The verse of the week is 1 John 3:16 which states, "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."

Just 2 quick points...

1. Love is defined by the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know what love is? The answer is simple. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ. He laid down His life for us. That is love. Based on this definition (which is the only good definition of love) I think there is a lot less love in the world than most people think. Why is this important? Just consider...

1 John 3:10, "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of god nor is he who does not love his brother."

1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother remains in death."

1 John 4:8, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Clearly, one of the distinguishing marks of a born again believer is that he loves others. Thus, it is vitally important for people to understand what love really looks like (by looking at Jesus) in order for people to rightly discern if they really love others.

Hint: It is easy to say you love everyone! Your actions tell the real truth (see 1 John 3:17-19)


2. We ought to love lay down our lives for one another. It is real easy to look at the cross and be thankful. We should do that. However, it is also important to look at the cross and understand that we are suppose to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are suppose to offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1-2)
We are suppose to carry our own crosses. (Luke 9:23)
We are suppose to deny ourselves. (Luke 9:23)
We are suppose to lay down our lives for each other. (1 John 3:16)
We are suppose to love our neighbor as much as ourselves (Matthew 22:39)

The big question is . . . How are YOU doing? ... Lets all try to do better!