What did Jesus say about loving our enemies?
– That we should be kind to them and pray for them and also go the extra mile and turn the other cheek (Mat 5:38-48).
That’s quite a calling, right in line with what God did for us while we were his enemies (Rom 5:8)!
Now, if this is all true about loving our enemies, how much more are we to love our friends?
John 15:13-14 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Q.- Is Jesus actually calling us to lay down our lives FOR HIM… our Friend, our best Friend??! – YES! And the way we serve Him is by laying down our lives for others.
Because when we do it for others, we do it for him in Mat 25, right?
Matt 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Again, is Jesus actually calling us to lay down our lives FOR HIM… our Friend, our best Friend??! – YES! And the way we serve Him is by laying down our lives for others.
And let’s remember, God’s love doesn’t stop short and quit on others when the going gets tough.
God’s love is persistent and it doesn’t give up even when it’s being attacked!
God’s love doesn’t give up even when a friend isn’t that kind to us!
Think about this; ALL the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested, but He still went forward all the way to the cross for those friends who ran away from Him at His greatest time of need.
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Jesus loved His friends all the way to, and through, the Cross, didn’t He??
This is what it means to lay down your life when you’re friends.
Many times, it won’t be convenient. It won’t be comfortable, but it WILL bring glory to God. And that’s all that really matters.
But HE must be our motivation (2Cor 5:14). We mustn’t look to our friends for acknowledgment.
They might be too weak in the moment to even appreciate our kindness and love.
Our job, our DUTY, is to obey the Lord and BE HIS FRIEND by obeying His commands. And one of His great commands is that we love one another!!
This is what it means that true love, God’s love, is sacrificial.
It takes something out of you when you lay down your life for others. In fact, it might take your whole life out of you. But God will never forget (Heb 6:10).
We should always be encouraged by His Word.
Heb 6:9-12 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
True love is not selfish. It is not self-seeking (1Cor 13). It seeks the benefit of others, even if it hurts oneself. God’s love TRULY puts others ahead of oneself (Php 2).
And God’s love is persistent, as seen in the great example of our Lord going to and through the cross for us, with no hesitation.
We must pray and pray and pray that we see things as He does and that we love as He did, because it’s only by His supernatural empowering that we will be able to glorify God in such a wonderful way.
In summary, Jesus saved us from a death sentence, stepping in the path for us.
Think of the loss and the pain He accepted to set us free.
There isn’t a higher calling in the universe than to live in God’s sacrificial love.
And we all have the great opportunity to live in some of that and bring Him honor and glory before we see Him face to face.
To Him be all the glory both now and forever.
Amen