Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Life worth dying for

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Isaiah 49:6, John 13:34

The Lord says,

"It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

Jesus says, "My children, I will be with you only a little longer. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Earlier during his Last Supper, Jesus foresaw Judas' betrayal. A few minutes later he predicted Peter's denials (three times before the cock crows). And he seems certain of his imminent departure.

Without his model to follow every day his disciples can lose their grip. Jesus knows Satan will attack them with vigor. So he begins to tell his disciples how they must now live. He bolsters their courage and insists on their willingness to stand up for each other against the tides of evil in the world. Decades later John recalls Jesus' words in his own encouraging letter to fellow disciples:

This is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another.
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.
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. There is no fear in love.
We love because he first loved us.
--1 John 3:11-4:19

In 21st century America we rarely have occasion to give our lives up for one another. We are mostly insulated from danger, from the moment of our birth to the moment that we die. Even death usually comes as we are medicated, comfortable, and old. Insurance companies now expect fifty year olds to live until they are 100.

Jesus was not afraid to die. He told his disciples to conquer their fear, and his disciple John tells me to conquer mine. "There is no fear in love." And he says with certainty:

Dave, there is nothing more special about your life than your brother's life. Free your mind from self-enchantment and love him with all you do. All you have belongs to him, too. And his last breath matters just as much as yours.

Finally I begin to understand how God changes hardened hearts -- those "Gentiles". It has nothing to do with words. No arguments, persuasion, apologetics. It's this love that Jesus brings to earth. He wants us to love like that. And I know ... when I do see this kind of love in action, my heart aches with joy. Life lived like this is life worth living, and worth the dying.

Lord Jesus, when I see you loving like this, all I want to do is follow you, love like you do, die like you do. Come to heaven whole and full of joy, like you do.

Devotions Archive

Life worth dying for

Tuesday, April 11, 2006