“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
TEXT — 1 John 3:13-24
Message
During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not sound. The soldier’s fiancée had climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding hands. Cromwell’s heart was touched and he said, “Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight!” This is an example of what love can do. –
The passage before us reveals love for one another as one of the strongest proofs of being saved. It outlines Christian love as being extensive, expensive and expressive. Genuine brotherly love knows no boundary and sets no limit. Brotherly love is also costly. The example of Christ says it all. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Genuine love will cost us talents, treasure and time to be spent for others. Love is also expressed by sincerely helping persons in need; that is, by sharing our earthly possessions (food, clothing, money, etc.) with them. Real love is an action, not a feeling. It produces selfless, sacrificial giving.
Christian love is different from the way the world loves. Naturally, people may display genuine love and concern for their fellow humans, but most of the time, such gestures are factually wrapped up in self. The world puts self first before others. This genuine Christian love, devoid of self, begins with an encounter with Christ.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
1 comment
O Lord, help my to put Christian love into action in Jesus’s name.
O Lord, help my to put Christian love into action in Jesus’s name.