Integrity- People of God

Some may say they love Christ and are willing to die for Him, or to be a martyr for Christ. Others may say they are willing to give of their possessions for Christ, to give to the poor and needy. Some may be willing to live a life of service for Christ on the mission fields, to leave home and family for Christ. But, the one commandment Jesus has given us, is to love one another as He has loved us, by laying down our life for Christ. To lay down our life is to die to selfishness, self-centeredness and pride. 

1 Corinthians 13:3-5 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked,thinks no evil; NKJ

John 15:12-13

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. NKJ

Pride is the root cause of all sin. It is pride, our feeling of self-importance that makes us put our wants, needs and desires above all else, including God.  It was pride that caused Satan to try and exalt himself above the throne of God. It was pride, the desire to be more, to know more and to be as important as God, that caused Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is the same today, the desire to put self-first above everything and everyone that causes us to sin. Pride causes us to refuse to lay down our life, wants and desires, and it also causes us to refuse to obey God’s command to loveothers.

John 15:14-15 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Jesus has called us friend, and He is asking us to lay down our life for Him, just as He has lay down His life for us. Jesus is that Friend whom we are to lay down our life for. He is the only one that deserves our total commitment. There is no greater love for Christ than for us to consciously, willingly and intentionally decide to put the love for others and put their needs before our own, to lay down our life for Christ, because that is how He has loved us. 

To lay down one’s life is harder than being a martyr, a one-time action, than giving of our wealth out of our surplus, or the sacrificing for service that can be self-serving.  For us to decide to lay down our life is a continuous, ongoing, lifelong process that we must do daily. To daily decide to not be selfish or prideful and to seek the welfare and betterment of others. This is a practiced skill that we must repeat daily in order to get better at it. Like any skill, the more we practice it the better we become at it, and it is usually a challenge at the beginning.

To lay down our life for our Friend, Jesus, is to seek Christ’sinterest in others. It is no longer putting ourselves before others but seeking God’s best for them. Realizing this still may cost us our life, our wealth or our time but the motive is love, that same love our Friend, Jesus Christ, has given us.  When we lay down our life of selfish concerns, then the love Christ has given us now flows from us to others.  

God is not asking us to die for Him, but to live for Him. To live our life in a way that shows love for others and to put them before our own selfish needs. Tree pruning is needed to grow good fruit. Unneeded or excess saplings or sprouts, whichdrains the tree of needed nutrients, are cut away to keep them from hindering the fruit from growing well.   

When the main branches stay attached to the vine it receives its supply and can produce good fruit.  When we remain in relationship, fellowship and communion with God through faith in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit we can ask the Father whatever we want.  We will receive it, because we ask in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’ character, in Jesus’ love and purpose for us and others.  

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. NKJ 

John 15:16-17 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. NKJ

Just as Jesus laid down His life for us, that we may live for Him and with Him, so shall we also do in this life. We are to lay down our self-interest, pride and selfishness so that we may show the love of Christ to those who may be unlovely but not unlovable. Jesus loves the whole world and gave Himself for us.  

1 John 2:2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. NLT 

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. NKJ