If I died for you...

You may know me, you may not. But if someone came up to tomorrow and told you for whatever reason, I died so that you could live… What would your first thought be? If you died for me, and I knew you, I’d be able to understand a little bit. But, if I didn’t know who you were, I’d wonder who you were and who I was to you...

It’s not really hard to feel strongly about someone who would do this. Knowing I couldn’t ever thank that person, I’d feel like I owed them something and could never repay them.

Over time, that person easily becomes a part of your life. Anyone you meet becomes a part of your life and has the potential to gain your love, depending on how much their involved. Sure love is a gradual thing... and it can be hard to determine if you actually love someone.

It makes me think then… “How do I know I love someone?” or “What exactly is love?”

With anything I question, I turn to the dictionary first, because it lays out a concept that allows me to at least begin to understand something. So with defining love, the first thing I notice is there are countless definitions and meanings for this one word, many of them either involving “affection” or “sex”. To my surprise – here in this reference that has no view toward any particular faith, belief or theory – I see God’s name among the list of meanings.
It reads:
“the benevolent affection of God for his creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God”

Now wait a minute… How amazing is it that you can’t define love without God, in a world free to believe what they want to believe. Getting back to the definition however, I notice there’s that word “affection” again. So I define that. Along with it being described as “the state of being affected” it is “a fond attachment, devotion, or love.” Hmm… the state of being affected… That sounds a lot like what someone does when they become a part of your life. They make some kind of affect, even so simple as to meet you, or so extreme as to give up their life, so that you can live yours.

Earlier I mentioned the feeling of owing someone who would die for you. When someone dies for you, you can easily say “You owe them your life.” This is what giving your life to Christ is. He’s died for you, and in turn, you owe it to him to live “your life” for “Him” (because He gave up His for yours.)

Now you may ask… "What’s love got to do with it? What's love, but a second hand in motion?"

Let’s look at it like this:
A well know scripture is John 3:16. The first part of this scripture reads:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son…”
Before I get deeper into this, let’s just go back to the family of the sacrificed, which I mentioned earlier. When anyone dies, they leave someone behind, be it a mother, brother, father, or sister. If I were to die for you, and you attended my funeral, it’s not hard to believe your relationship with my family would be affected. The message I want to relay with this is that the relationship between you and God strengthened – as it would with any deceased member’s family. But He gave His ‘only Son’ as a sacrifice. Now this changes a lot. Not only did Jesus die for you, but under His father’s will, he agreed to sacrifice Himself for you.

Now picture my dad, being the reason behind me giving my life for you. He’d have to feel strongly towards you to be able to be willing to sacrifice his son, let alone his child.

I don’t know if anything I’ve said thus far makes any sense at all to you, but basically I’ve been trying to illustrate the greatest example of love to help you understand this phenomenon called Love.
The bible says, “We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave His life for us. (1John 3:16)” It also says “We must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words. (1John 3:18)” There’s a difference between telling someone you love them and then actually living like you love them.
Live to love.... God and His people.

Be blessed,
C.j.