No Greater Love...

Hello Brothers and Sisters...

He ain't heavy Father.............He's my Brother

This phrase originated over 100 years ago.  A girl of about 12 years was carrying her brother of about of about 9 years.  A man saw her walking with him and struggling some and offered to help her and she looked up to him and said.........He ain't heavy...........He's m' brother. 

If only we could have this heart for our brothers.  The welfare of this little girls brother was all her concern.  She wasn't worried or complaining about the work or the sacrifice made to make sure he made it.  She carried his burden with love and it wasn't even a question in her heart what she would do.  She just did it because it was good and right.  

John 15:13

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 

Jesus spoke these words to us.  Yes the surface context of these words is the literal dying of your physical vessel for the life of a friend.  But there is so much more.  Sacrificial love is all encompassing.  Paul says it very well....

 

Gal 5:14

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 

Matthew had abit more to add to this:

 

  Matthew 5:43   Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

  Matthew 5:44   But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

 

 

You see to love them that love you is easy.  To love them that hate you is a sacrifice.

 

 

Matthew 12:24   And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

 

2 Timothy 3 1-5

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

 

Lovers of self is the rage.  Self this and self that.  It is the nature of our flesh to love ourselves first.  I believe this is not what our Father wants.  This is far from the example He set for us as He walked among us.  He gave all of Himself for us.  He did not put Himself first, the needs of all others He served first. 

 

Eph 5:2

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

 

Jesus was hated of by many and loved by many more.  He died for all, every single one.

 

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 

So what is a friend??  We have friends to make us feel better.  They adore us and make us laugh and we have fun with them.  If we don't have fun with them we tend not to hang out with them.  They feed our ego and make us feel good. Social media is full of friends, the more likes you have the more important you feel.  Again its all about self.

 

Jesus said:

 

John 15:14-15   Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 

Some might suggest that this speaks of conditional love.  That if we don't walk his commandments we will not be His friend.  Actually this is totally sacrificial love for us.  The good of the 10 Commandments is not for Him but for us, for our own good.  If we do not have the goodness within us and walk it then we slowly die.  You see only pure good can survive eternal.  Sin is chaos, confusion and death,  maybe not immediately but like yeast it will multiply until all is infected and eventually will die and take all it has infected with it.

 

Thru the Holy Bible (KJV) our Father has made known to us all that is needed for eternal life.  If there is no desire to learn and practice these things in this life there will be no desire to do so in the next. Your same Spirit is you eternally.  If we do not invest ourselves in that which is God's Good then we are invested in that which is not God's Good.  We do in fact reap what we sow.  What is bound on earth will also be bound in heaven.

 

Matt 18:18

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

 

James 2:23

And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

 

Solomon had afew things to say about friends in Proverbs...

 

Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

 

And my favorite...

He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

 

The gift of life is most valuable thing we have.  To lay it down is to put yourself alittle lower than your brother.  To help him in anyway you can to help him to gain eternal life.  To share with him the goodness that our Father has bestowed upon you both in the physical and the spiritual. 

Jesus did this for his friends and his enemies.  He did this for all that we might know that we can overcome sin and be resurrected unto eternal life.  He went way beyond what He is asking from us.

The word Joy explains in itself how to attain real Joy.  Jesus first.......Others second........Yourself last.

 

Hebrews 2:9

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

 

Luke 9:24

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

 

John 10:17

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

 

1Peter 3:18

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

 

This scripture tells us that it is not a man dying for man but GOD dying for man.

 

Come out of her my people, come out of the darkness and into the light which is our LORD Jesus!!!

 

Luke 11: 33-36

  No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

 

Romans 13:10

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 

Be Blessed and much Love!!!