His Love Frees

“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3:16) 

I don’t sleep well most nights. A single awakening moment seems to fire my brain into full thinking mode and I am often awake from 4am onwards, sometimes before that time. Perhaps it’s my job as a journalist – from the moment my eyes open, even for a brief amount of time, I am awake, reaching for my phone, searching online for news, planning stories and responding to emails. I don’t know if that’s ideal or not. It’s just the way it is. I take my role seriously. 

This morning was different. I woke up, as usual, for no particular reason and followed my typical routine of news gathering. However, I also opened up a Bible verse app on my mobile and the verse above, from 1 John 3:16, shouted at me. It is so raw and powerful, firing the crux of the gospel at us – from the underlying platform as to why his love truly brings freedom. Ultimately it sums up perfectly everything the Bible wants to say to us. I felt startled reading it. It took me to another realm where truth abides.  

The love of God through Jesus is permanent and we are shown how that’s true. Marinating in those words, “… because he laid down his life for us” takes me to a different world. A place where anything is possible. God LOVES us and showed it by giving up his very life for us! How can you get your head around that? How can you sink into the depths of what it entails? I wonder if we can ever really understand the parameters of its meaning.  

In any case, as his children we are called to respond and that response is to mirror what he did for us. He laid down his life and we, in turn, are called to lay down our lives for each other. It’s our calling, our way of thanking him: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Take that truth, hold it close to your heart and run with it! Share it with others. Put others first and make the priority of every day simply to show love.

I am tapping away like a keyboard warrior here, as though I have mastered it. But I am really preaching to myself as much as others. We perceive the love of God – it is definitely and definitively there. He gave up his very life for me! So come on (Chris!), lay down your priorities in any way you can to put others first. Live a life of thanks to God for his love and reflect his kindness! 

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