No More Rusty Christians - Part 1 · The Disciple Machine

No More Rusty Christians - Part 1

A Five-Part Devotional on Love, Humility, and Warning People Before It Is Too Late

Jesus Defines Love

In John 15, Jesus teaches His disciples and gives one of the clearest definitions of love in all of Scripture. He says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” People are always trying to define love. The secular world tries to define it. The Christian world tries to define it. Everybody has an opinion about what love is supposed to look like, sound like, and feel like. But Jesus does not leave love up to human imagination. He cuts straight through all the noise and says the greatest love is not about getting something from someone else. It is not about finding someone who fulfills your needs, satisfies your emotions, or completes your life. The greatest love is when a man lays down his life for his friends.

Do not get offended when I say Jesus was a no-nonsense Savior. He got straight to the point. He was not trying to be super-spiritual just to impress people. He did not wrap truth in religious fluff. He spoke plainly because truth matters, eternity matters, and souls matter. That is how I have tried to operate this ministry. It may be rough around the edges at times, but I am not here to blow rainbows and sunshine into a world that is already burning. This calling is serious. The hour is serious. The time we are living in is serious. There is not much time left, and when Jesus defines love, we had better pay attention.

Jesus makes it clear that His definition of love is different from the world’s definition. The world says love is about self. The world says love is about finding someone who will meet your needs, affirm your desires, and make you feel good about yourself. But the love Jesus describes is not selfish. It is not centered on self at all. It lays itself down for another. It gives. It sacrifices. It bleeds. It puts another person ahead of its own comfort. That is why the cross is the greatest display of love the world has ever seen. Jesus did not merely talk about love. He demonstrated it. He laid down His life.

Paul reinforces this in 1 Corinthians 13:3 when he says, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [or love], it profiteth me nothing.” That is a sobering verse. A person can give away everything they own and still not be moved by God’s love. A person can make a great sacrifice and still be doing it for pride, recognition, self-gratification, or some false religious reward. The action may look loving on the outside, but if the motive is not love, it profits nothing.

That is why not every sacrifice is God’s kind of love. We see people in false religions sacrifice themselves, even die, but their motive is not the love of God. Jihadists do it with the hope of gaining entrance into heaven and receiving some fleshly reward. That is not love. That is a counterfeit. When God gives, He gives because He loves. When God corrects, He corrects because He loves. When God warns, He warns because He loves. God does nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Nothing whatsoever. His love is holy, humble, truthful, and pure.

So when Jesus says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” He is calling us to something far deeper than religious talk. Love is not just a feeling. Love is not just a word. Love is not just being nice. Love lays itself down. Love gives when it costs something. Love speaks truth when silence would be easier. Love warns when danger is ahead. Love is not soft cowardice. Love is sacrificial courage.

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No More Rusty Christians - Part 1