Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. John 15:13
As a mom of young children, one of the greatest and most time-consuming child-training challenges I have had is in teaching the children selflessness.
As human beings, fleshly human being, who struggle with the condition of our hearts on a continual basis, this has been a lesson that has been quite hard to teach and even quite hard to learn.
But you see, one of the reasons this has been challenging to impart is because these are things I’m learning along the way as well.
I read the above scripture and think about the special people in my life who I really would lay down my life for. I love those people. I would give my life for them.
But will I cheerfully go out of my way for them? Will I, without a moment’s hesitation, meet a friend for coffee who needs to talk? Will I joyfully take on my husband’s to-do list, even though my own is a mile long, simply to alleviate some of his own stress? Will I take a sick neighbor dinner?
Being selfless is about more than just laying down my life. It’s about laying down my flesh.
It’s about ultimately remembering that God’s definition of love trumps my flesh each and every time.
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love! 1 John 4:7-12
Dying to flesh daily,
Barb
image via pinterest
Amen! Great post! Dying to the flesh is a daily job and becomes easier as we stay in His Word, love Him, love ourselves and love others. Understanding and basking in the deep and undeniable love of our Lord, enables us to become more Christ-like in our words, thoughts and deeds. Many blessings!
Let’s not forget the greatest expression of selfless love: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Making sacrifices for those who are close to us, though a strain on the body, is not difficult on the heart. But, will we love our enemies? Will we pray for those who persecute us? Will we offer our cheek to the one who strikes it? Will we forgive as Christ forgave us? True Christian love must pass beyond the realm of the comfortable and embrace the radical, and sometimes rugged, expression of Christ.
What a great challenge to all of us Barb. I can remember learning selflessness while teaching my own children and finding conviction with almost every lesson. How can I teach them to be selfless when they could easily point out where I needed work in this area. I learned a lot with my kids. Today they tend to be selfless as they have seen their dad and I model what this means. They are even teaching me today as they reach out to others despite their own needs. Children truly are a blessing for many reasons.
Love you!! 🙂