"Greater love hath no man than this,"

John 15:13 is probably one of my favorite verses in the Bible: "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends". It is quite a short verse but it has so much sentiment to it, and to actually live it out is such a challenge.

I used to think that this verse simply meant that if you truly loved someone you were willing to die for them. That seemed pretty doable to me, if someone I loved was held at gunpoint and I was offered the choice to die in their place I would most certainly take it. But that's not what this verse is about. A couple weeks ago I was reading a daily devotional, from Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest", and it spoke to this verse, it said that it is far easier to die than to lay down your life for someone day in and day out. Death is easy, one second you are here and the next you aren't. But to live everyday in sacrifice for your friends, that's hard.

Certainly it is easy to lay down your life for your friends every now and then. I have most certainly gone through phases where I try to do my very best to serve others and put them before myself. Usually these phases coincide with situation in which I am there with the very purpose to serve others: helping out at a church function, on a missions trip, during a retreat. But to lay down your life, everyday, 24/7, for others is a big challenge.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux lived in France in the 19th century, she was fifteen when she became a nun and sadly she passed away from tuberculosis when she was only twenty-four. Yet in her short time here on earth she did enough to merit being sainted. She never did anything particularly outstanding or performed any great deeds, she barely even left the area she was born in except once when she travelled to Rome to meet the pope, but the thing that made Thérèse worthy of sainthood is that she lived her life trying to show love to everyone, everyday. "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? The only way I can prove my love is by every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

Not only are we to lay our lives down for each other and to everyday live out lives of love, but we are also to lay down our lives for God and serve Him. What makes this even more challenging is that we ought not expect recognition or praise for this, often loving sacrifices go unnoticed. A song that really helps me when I'm struggling with laying my life down for others is "Desert Song" by Brooke Fraser, when I feel like I've given everything I can and I just have nothing left to give and I just can't be as loving as I should I remember that "I'm filled to be emptied again. The seed I've received I will sow". God had poured so much love into me and all I have to do is share that love with others, even if they don't recognize it, God sees it and that's what counts.