No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you to do.    John 15:13-14 HCSB

Many of us would say yes if someone asked us if we loved the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that the greatest commandment was that we love the Lord with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. So, the question today is do you love Him like that? Do you truly love the Lord with all you’ve got?

Do you put Him first in your life or are there many things you put before Him? Our Scripture passage says there is no greater love than to lay down your life for someone. Maybe there is someone in your life that you love so much you would die for. Maybe you would die for your spouse or your child or your parents. Would you die for Jesus?

Many of you might pause at this question and wonder if it came down to it, would you die for Him? I pray that you are never in a situation where you have to choose to die for Jesus Christ, but we are called to daily die to ourselves. What does that mean? Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 that if anyone would come after Him or follow Him let them deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him.

Are you willing to die to yourself and deny yourself to follow Him? The second part of our Scripture passage says we are friends of Jesus if we obey our commands. When we fail to obey His commands, we become his enemy. James said in 4:4, “Adulteresses! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So, whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.

You can’t ride the fence, either you are a friend of Jesus and obey God’s commands or you are a friend to the world and do as they do which makes you God’s enemy. Which will it be? We all have a choice to make.

I also want to ask one more question, do you welcome your enemy into your home? I’m guessing the answer to that is no. Do you think God wants His enemy to live with Him in heaven? Do you think Jesus went up to prepare a mansion for His enemies? I think not.

The time to decide is now. What will it be? Will you love Jesus and obey His commands, or will you love the things of this world and become His enemy? God wants all of you. He wants you to deny yourself. This means we don’t do everything we want to do, we do what He wants us to do. We live and love as He instructs us to live and love. We do things His way.

Jesus said that we had to deny ourselves take up our cross and follow Him. He went on to say in Matthew 16:25 that whoever wants to save his life will lose it. This means if we choose to live our lives as we please, here on earth, we will lose our lives to an eternity in hell. But whoever loses his life for Christ will find it. Those who surrender their earthly lives to Him will spend eternity in heaven with Him.

Do you love Him with all you have? Are you willing to surrender your life to Him? I often say Christianity is not for sissies. There is no sitting on the fence, it’s yay or nay, what will it be?

Have a great day!