This is love

Jesus said in John 15:12-14,

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command."

He said that, & I believe he meant it. But then, Jesus takes things one step farther. He not only lays down his life for his friends - for those He loves, but He lays down His life for His enemies - for those that hated Him.

I had a professor @ Lipscomb, Randy Harris, who once started class by talking about the "irritant." An irritant, he said, is an irritant because they don't know they are irritating. That's what makes them an irritant. We all know people like this & have people in our lives we just don't necessarily like. The question for us is how do we treat these people in light of the cross?

The common response is to be nice & polite to these people that we just don't naturally get along with. To be cordial to those who hurt us. Maybe to even pray for them. But Jesus went far beyond tolerating those people - He laid down his life for those who loved Him & those who didn't love Him.

It's easy for us to love those who love us. And it's easy for us to love sacrificially for those who love us. But Jesus calls us to this "next level" of Christianity, if you will. To sacrifically love those who don't love us. To lay down our lives for those who hurt us, mistreat us, & irritate us. That's the real challenge. How do we do that in real, everyday, practical ways? That's up to us to live out.