Love is a laid down life

1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

        When Christ came into my life, you could say that scales fell from my eyes, and my heart was torn open. The light bulb went ON inside my head. I suddenly saw Christ for what He did for me. He died for me and the sins that I committed, and the ones that I will commit. The yoke of trying to live by my rules was lifted off my shoulders, freeing me to concentrate on God and what He had for me to do. In doing that I was able to, for once, concentrate on my walk, showing others the changes. Living a life that exemplified my Savior, and what He did in order to free me from the fires of hell. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Romans 8:35. Before my commitment, I thought Christ was so disappointed in me that no matter what I was not accepted, loved, or able to get back to Him and His love, that I knew He had for others but not me. It took me being completely broken, in order that I was able to actually hear His voice. In that voice I heard the love that He had for me. I learned that this previous verse was true for me. And then through prayers, and listening to His voice during those prayers, I was filled with a desire to tell others who may be in the same boat that I was in, that there is hope in the Lord Jesus. I do not want others to go through what I had. If I can head off a disaster, so that others will not end up as I did, then I have obediently done what the Lord has directed me to do.

          With His love in my heart, now, I understand more and more what Jesus did for me. He did not just die for me, but for the whole world. Now this may be hard to believe for some, and for a time, it was hard for me to fully comprehend also. See God knew what gifts He had for me to use, and at the right time, Jesus allowed the devil to use me, in order that my fall would show me those plans. And that they would have to, for a time, be taught to me away from family and friends. The time that it took, almost 7 years in prison, seemed to quickly fly by. The obedience I lived, made my time there purposeful. I was guided and directed how to treat others and live my life with His light of glory, shining out from me. I also began to have a better understanding of how His sacrifice on the cross redeemed me, took my sins away, washed me. I saw what He did for me and began to believe it. His statement on the cross “It is finished” meant that my sins were separated from me once and for all. Finally allowing that to sink into my mind and heart was VERY liberating. It freed me to finally live for Him, opening the way for His plan, for me, to finally materialize, so that I could use the gifts He had made for me before I was born. “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” Revelation 1:5.

        Christ’s death on the cross finally made sense to me when I opened my heart to Him. His death allowed me to know without a doubt that He does love me. And that knowledge has allowed me to acquire the joy and peace and happiness that I had so long searched for. I looked at His sacrifice and death in a different light, the light of His mercy and grace. I did not deserve it. I couldn’t get it by what “good deeds” I did, or how often I volunteered at church. Jesus’ death showed me that God loves me and He requests my presence in the Throne Room in order that I continue to walk God’s path for me. To be self-sacrificing, in order to lift others up. Christ’s death, on the cross, allowed His grace to be poured out on the whole world. And as believers our commission is to share that mercy and grace with others. Dying to self in order to lift others up, by our treatment of them. As believers we “die” more and more each day, allowing the healing power of the Holy Spirit to infiltrate our hearts and minds. By doing that our lives take on the power of Jesus Christ so that power can be shared with others we come intact with. “and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15.