Let’s read John 15:9-17

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” ‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Love — A deliberate act of one’s will to promote, benefit, or prosper another for their own sake at no cost to them; a deliberate act of one’s will to do that which is the very best, most excellent, and most profitable for another without expectation of something in return (Living Life Live)

When my oldest was born, I began to get a picture of what God’s sacrificial love is like. I would sacrifice sleep, my time, money, my entire life to provide what I thought was best for that sweet little helpless baby. He had nothing to offer back except his need to be held and loved and his newborn baby smell. 

We are that to God. Honestly if we look deeply at ourselves, what does the God of the universe really get in pursuit of us? For myself, I can tell you… He gets a mess… someone who willingly has chosen to do the opposite of what He commanded time and time again. He gets someone who is helpless to fix themself. The truth is, without Him, I am needy and I am spiritually poor… But HE loves me! HE was willing to give Himself away so that I could be His! 

When I realize all the truth of how God loves me, I realize that my life is not my own. As He has loved me, I am to love others. God’s love is never selfish. It always gives. I am to live my life as He did — willing to give myself away in service to Him and others. My life is not about myself. It is God’s. He fills me with His self sacrificing love so that I can love like Him! 

Do you understand what you are truly like without God’s sacrificial love? 

Do you understand how much God wants you to experience His love?

Are you experiencing His love? And Are you loving like Him?