Day 25: 1 John 3:16

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”



Love is a very elusive thing in today’s world. It means too many things. I can love a cheeseburger, and I can love my parents. I can love my wife. All three of those things are different kinds of love (I hope).


The love that John is talking about here is unconditional love. The greek word is agape. Unconditional love is shown in Jesus’ life and of course, in his death on the cross to absorb the wraith of God that was meant for us.


John says that because Jesus did that, we can know what real love is. Our life before Jesus is marked with conditional love. We love the things we do based on what we get back from them. In Jesus’ case, He got nothing back by dying for us. Actually he got spit on and mocked. Not exactly what you’d expect, right?


Jesus showed unconditional love by laying His life down for us. That can mean the cross and other aspects. Remember that Jesus left heaven to become human to show us the way and then die for us. It took Jesus three years to disciple his crew and three days to die and rise again. His whole life was laid down for us.


John also says that knowing real love frees us to love others correctly, or like Jesus. Because Jesus died on the cross, because He shows us real love, we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. Put quickly, we give up our lives for others.


This is the core of leadership, and it’s not what the world expects from it’s leaders. We lay down our lives for those that follow us. That’s the beautiful thing. We serve those we lead (and those we don’t lead) by giving up everything for them.


I use to think that laying down my life meant dying for somebody else. That seemed simple enough. I only had to do it once, and what were the chances I’d ever really have the opportunity to step into a bullet for someone or something like that?


Unfortunately, laying down your life is harder than that. You lay down your life every minute of every day. It’s a continual choice; and that’s what makes it hard. We don’t have to make that choice once; we have to do it with every breath. Christians lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters. Leaders lay down their lives for everyone.


CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE: Christ shows us what true love is by laying down His life so that we may lay down our lives for everyone around us.


Here’s a set of Verses to meditate on today: John 15:12-14


Prayer: Father, help me to lay down my life for those around me today. Remind me of your love, that I may mimic it to those I lead. In Christ’s name I pray, amen.