All You Need is Love Daily Devotional -21

JOHN 15:12-14 | ¹² This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you.

 Genuine sacrifices, of resources, time, emotion, or life arise naturally from the love we have for one another. To “lay down your life” for another is natural when we care for someone. Time spent helping them is not a duty but a delight. Effort spent in their service does not feel like a burden, but like a special opportunity.

 Yet in fact, these moments are sacrifices, because we live in a world where our time and treasure and talent are limited. To choose one course is to forego another. To spend an hour alongside a sufferer is to lose an hour for personal advancement. Often genuine sacrifice is not a spectacular one off decision. It is a way of living that is consistently committing time and effort to helping and serving. It is a grateful and holy “martyrdom.”

 From whom are you “laying down” your life?

 Is it a burden or a joy?

Tags: joy, burden