One day as I was seeking to encourage a downcast person, my words were met with a harsh rebuke. It left me feeling rejected and judged. Resisting the urge to leave, I sat down and asked the question I know the Lord gave me. “What would it look like for me to encourage you?” The person changed from silent and withdrawn to talking and sharing. If I had left this person after the initial rebuke, I would have missed an opportunity to see how the Lord could use me to minister to this person. Because I stayed, I experienced an intimacy with this person I would have never shared had I left. The joy and blessing I felt left me thinking, “Wow, I need to do this more often!”
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16
When Jesus was on the cross for our sins, he was insulted and rejected by those around him. Even though he could have called down angels in heaven to stop the madness and the insults, he remained faithful to carry out the mission of the Father. That mission was to take upon himself our sins so that we could have eternal life. Even while enduring the pain on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” As we encounter people who sometimes reject us we need to remember what Jesus did upon the cross. He forgave them, committed his own spirit into the Father’s hands and allowed God’s will to be done.
How does a person lay down his/her life for others? Believers can sacrifice (die to self) because Jesus sacrificed His life for us. When we realize in our hearts how our sin grieves God and the cost of His Son on the cross, it results in a gratitude for what He did and a growing desire to please and obey Him. One of the ways we please Him is by loving others. Because we are sinners we are utterly incapable of doing even the smallest of things right without His grace and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Sin no longer reigns in our hearts, but Jesus reigns, resulting in a constant access to His unconditional love, compassion, mercy, acceptance, and all the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. We can now respond in new ways to the people and circumstances of our lives. He made it so we can give our lives for others by laying down our need to be right, our desires, and our agenda, even our demands to be loved and accepted. Living life remembering all He did to free us from our sin and the way He lived brings a sweet communion with Jesus that produces that inexpressible joy in relationship with Him and others.
What relationship is before you that needs the Redeemer’s work? Allow Christ to work through you in your words and actions; He will indeed bring healing. Love’s sacrifice does indeed bring great joy; for in that we know Christ and knowing Him results in abundant life.
