OceanSide church of Christ
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MY
LIFE I CAN GIVE, BUT…
Scott
Cain
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends” (John 15:13). Thus Jesus
defined true friendship. He
described the agape love that He
would soon demonstrate toward mankind.
This is the love that a man must have toward Jesus in order to be His
friend. This is the love that
exists when a person has true care and selfless concern for the welfare of
another.
Jesus showed mankind true friendship by His sacrifice (Tit.
2:13-14). His
agony in
It we would return His friendship, we must be willing to lay down our
lives and pick up His commandments (John 15:14; Mt. 16:24-26). Those who love Christ obey His will
(John 14:15). Many claim to serve
Christ through public declaration of His name. Others demonstrate some outward form of
self-sacrifice, but they do not truly love Him because they never render full
obedience to Him (Mt. 7:21-23).
Only those who truly love Him will receive a crown from Him (II Tim. 4:8;
Jas. 1:12). Only those who truly
love Him love His word of truth (II Th. 2:10-12; John 17:17). Partial obedience and perverted
doctrines are unacceptable to Christ (Gal. 1:6-9). Paul wrote that a person might actually
lay down his life as a martyr for Christ, but without agape love that martyrdom would be
worthless.
Lisa and Amy had been friends for years, and all who knew them knew that
each of them would gladly give her life for the other. One day, as Amy was about to leave for a
once-in-a-lifetime vacation to
For a person to “lay down his life” for Christ is not limited to death;
it also involves sacrificing any habits, preferences, addictions, or beliefs
that are contrary to Jesus’ soul-saving gospel. Many are confident that they could
withstand torture for Christ’s sake, but are they willing to endure temptation
or inconvenience? However short a
person comes of rendering full obedience to Christ is exactly how short that
person comes of truly loving Jesus and spending eternity with
Him.
How often is a true friend ashamed to introduce his friend to the people
he knows? The same idea is true of
our friendship to Jesus. If for no
other reason, the true friend of Jesus is motivated by appreciation to spread
the gospel in order to bring other souls to Him. This is the desire of the world’s Best
Friend (I Tim. 2:4; Mt. 28:18-20).
A Christian may claim to be willing to sacrifice his life to try to save
a friend’s life, but often that same Christian is not willing to sacrifice a few
minutes to try to arrange a Bible study and save that friend’s soul. If a person’s life is worth saving, why
not his soul?
We may never have the opportunity to (sic) die a physical death for
Jesus, but every day we have the opportunity to live our physical lives for Him
(Rom. 12:1-2). The possibility of
martyrdom is unlikely, but we can count on the necessity of dedicating our time,
energy, and attention to the word of God and the work of Christ. Rather than daydreaming about an
extraordinary sacrifice in an extraordinary situation that may never arise, let
us determine to make the ordinary sacrifices in the ordinary circumstances we
have every day. He gave His life
for us. Do we have a minute to
spare for His work?
Editor’s
Note: The church at