Anonymous love

 

Hi there – It’s with hope and trust that I bring this word of encouragement to you today:

“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” – 1 John 3: 16

SOMETIMES bible translations can be scary – like the one above. Does Jesus really want us to lay down our lives for others? Jesus went all the way to prove to the entire world that He loved us enough to die for us – “real love”; but do we have to sacrifice ourselves for others? Of course it does happen literally – heroes die to save others’ lives in tragic circumstances (and in movies). But the reason God put His love in our hearts is so that we are selfless when we’re called to care for, and help, our “brothers and sisters”. Metaphorically speaking, we can “give up our lives” (our egos) by helping others anonymously, so that we can’t be praised, lauded, and featured on TV for our 10-munutes of fame. Simply put, we should put others’ needs first when necessary, whatever difficulty or humility that might demand of us. And if you’re in a poor emotional state, but you reach out to help someone else anyway, God’s love will assist. If we’re going to “die for others”, we must do it as though our life depends on it.

 

Bye for now.