Greater love has no one than this...

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Jn 15:13

I hear this scripture used a lot in reference to Jesus dying on the cross. Somehow, we have read this verse and in our own minds we have taken it to mean that we have to physically die to show this kind of love. Although I will agree, dying for a friend is an awesome sacrifice, I think we completely miss out on the real meaning of this verse.

Think about this for a second, if I physically die, I only have to do that once. But the connotation that I believe Jesus was speaking about was dying daily to ourselves. If you look at the verses before and after this you start to see a much broader picture of what the idea he was conveying is. It's about loving others more then yourself. It's about putting others needs before your own desires.

It's easy to die for someone, it's much more difficult to live a life of humility and submission. But it is in that submitted life to God that we truly start to understand the real sacrifice of Jesus.

Think about it...