¹⁶We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

If the determinative between genuine Christian faith and worldliness is love, how can we know what real love is? John has been contrasting love with hate and likens it to the difference between eternal life and death—a stark dichotomy. So then we must learn what genuine love is and how we can know it when we see it.

Love is more than a feeling, as many have pointed out. By analogy, while we cannot see the wind, per se, we can observe the evidence in the movement of tree leaves and the feeling of a breeze on our hair and skin. So, what evidence proves the genuineness of love? The apostle Paul, of course, poetically presents the “love chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13. Here, John boils it down to the ultimate demonstration of love, namely, to sacrifice for another. The ultimate sacrifice, of course, is to give one’s life for another.

We imagine getting hit by a truck while pushing a child out of the way. Or a soldier throwing himself down on an exploding hand-grenade to save his fellow soldiers from the blast. The apostle John reminds us of the greatest of all sacrifices, that of Jesus Christ going to the cross. This was not just an esoteric gesture out of a feeling of love. No, our Lord made a conscious, considered decision to act as our substitute, to die in our place. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

So, if we are believers in Jesus Christ and claim to be His followers, then we should act as He did—not just feel love as an emotion or wish others well, but act in sacrificial love for others. This means we must be willing, should the time come, to give our very lives so others can live. That is not just a good feeling of love but a tangible reality. Some Christians are called upon to physically die to save others from dying.

The old saying goes like this: “It is easy for people to shed their last drop of blood, but it is more difficult to shed the first drop.” We may fancy ourselves being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, but what about smaller sacrifices: giving to those who need life’s necessities, helping those with health and financial struggles, aiding single mothers trying to hold down low-paying jobs and take care of children, helping the poor and homeless? Where is the love of Christ if it does not abide in us and flow through us—in deed and in truth?

PRAYER: Lord, open my eyes to one person today who needs my love.