A Model of Love
Read John 15:9-17
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
-John 15:13 (NRSV)
ONE moment my arms were full of incoming mail; the next moment I had tripped on a cable on the floor, spilling the mail in all directions. Embarrassed, I tried to get up; but I couldn't move. I didn't know at the time that the fall had broken my hip. My co-workers gathered around, encouraging me to lie still. Tears filled my eyes.
"What's the matter?" asked my friend Shirley.
"I'm afraid," I whispered.
She then lay down next to me and told me I could rest my head on her outstretched arm. Shirley stayed with me until the ambulance came and was a comfort to me after surgery.
Jesus may have been speaking of himself when he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (NIV), but he also was giving a model for what we can do. That day Christ used Shirley to show me God's love when she lay down next to me.
When we sacrifice anything in our lives for the good of others, we in some measure reflect Christ's sacrifice. When someone acts in my life as Shirley did, it motivates me to reflect Christ to others.
Sue Tornai (California, U.S.A.)
Thank you, Lord, for your love and for friends who mirror your love for us. Amen.
God stays with us in fearsome times.
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Someone injured in an accident
