13th September 2023

Lay down your life

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:13 (NIV)

Our Lord and Saviour Jesus laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16). He did this by dying on a cross. This we know, and for this reason we follow him, and declare him our Lord and Saviour. 

As the header scripture says, if we love one another, we will lay down our lives for one another. Does it mean though that we are to actually die for each other? In very exceptional circumstances this may be asked of some of us, but this passage could also mean laying down the lives we live, our everyday lives in service to others.

Perhaps when you’ve just sat down to dinner with your family at the end of a long day, and it’s your absolute favourite meal – there’s a knock at the door. It’s a neighbour in need or a brother or sister in Christ seeking counsel. So for a few minutes, or perhaps hours, we set aside our lives, and devote that time to another person. 

Maybe you have tickets for your favourite show, long awaited, and much anticipated, but you give those tickets to a friend who is very much in need of encouragement, and you do it willingly. If you have children or elderly parents, you will often put your life on hold, setting your needs to one side and putting their needs continually before your own.

Does this mean we shouldn’t take care of ourselves? No. We should pray for a discerning heart, and let the Spirit lead us into wise choices. We have to be careful, though, that we don’t let the practice of ‘self-care’ overshadow the life changing work of ministering to those around us, as we witness to the self-sacrificing love of Jesus. 

Prayer
Lord, teach us to have hearts that put others before ourselves – as you did. Help us to have servant hearts – as you have, and lead us to make wise choices that help us to remain whole, even as we share all we have and everything we are with those around us. In Jesus’s sweet name, Amen.

Study by Sinead Henderson

About the writer:
Sinead Henderson attends the Northampton congregation of Grace Communion International

Local congregation:
GCI Northampton
Ecton Village Hall
78A High Street
Ecton
Northampton
NN6 0QB

Local congregational contact:
Maggie Mitchell
Email:  maggie.mitchell@btinternet.com

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church