"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love." John 15:9
"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." John 15:12
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, If ye do whatsoever I command you." John 15:13-14
As I thought about these verses it hit me: Jesus loves me the way the father loves him! Wow, what a thought, and this is how He wants me to love others. There can be no greater love than that which the Father bestows on the Son...
Then He says that the greatest love is someone who lays down their life for a friend. As I thought about this it occured to me that laying down your life is not just in death, it is not just dying for someone. It is laying your desires and dreams, your life, your very existance for another, it is giving up all for another. Truely there is no greater love than this anywhere, and to think this is how God loves me. It is beyond my comprehension.
Jesus layed down not only His life in death but His everyday existence. Think of what it must have been to grow up being the perfect child, for real. I mean how many kids hang out with a kid all the grown ups hold up to them for an example. Who wants to be around someone who always makes the right desision and never messes up. Yet this is what Jesus agreed to when He came to lay down His life for us. He agreed to show us the greatest love of all, the love that lays down the life of it's posessor, and He did this not only for His friends but for His enemies.
A love this strong consumes me... It is the love my God gives to me, the love I desire to give to Him in return... The love that holds me up and feeds my soul, the love I want God to pour out to others through me. A love that has no bounds, that is eternal...
Greater Love hath NO man than this...
