One of the most convicting and challenging texts in scripture for me is 1 John 3:16-18:
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 and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Of course I remember John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I memorized that verse when I was a little boy. It is one of those verses that encapsulates the gospel in one short line. God loves me (and all people) so much that He willingly sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for my sins so that I might have life with God instead of the judgment and death I deserved. That is a perfect picture of God’s self-giving love on display toward us all. Jesus laid down His life for us so that we might have life in Him as a result.
Now let’s leave the Gospel of John and return to the letter of 1 John. As Jesus laid down His life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for others. When we start talking about laying down our lives we are going way beyond ME.
When ME is in the primary position my reason for living is to do whatever it takes to offer maximum benefit too . . . you guessed it – ME. I will do whatever it takes to make ME comfortable, to entertain ME, to focus on ME. And let’s be honest, left to ourselves, our alignment naturally drifts inward toward ME.
That is why these words from 1 John are like a cluster bomb exploding in the center of the ME universe. If we take these words seriously the bomb will explode in our hearts, destroying the ME-centered spirit, and fragments filter out into every area of our lives, the places where ME is more directly on display.
As I write these words I am aware of the powerful influence ME still has in my life, but I am also aware of how ME is shrinking as the presence of JESUS is enlarged. That is how it works as we grow spiritually. ME shrinks and JESUS is enlarged. But how? How does this happen? Here is how it is happening in my life:
1. I am reminded every day how much I continue to need the saving grace of Jesus. ME has indulged in sin and led me away from the person God called me to be. So I need God’s grace.
2. I must daily – sometimes multiple times in a day – invite the Spirit to control my life, to destroy the influences of ME and enlarge the power and presence of JESUS.
3. I must intentionally do the things that Jesus would do and say the things that Jesus would say. I can’t do that on my own. ME won’t let that happen. But I can do that more and more as Christian friends help me to see places where ME still lives and encourage me by pointing to the places where JESUS is growing.
4. I reorient my life more and more around the basic teachings of verse 17 and 18, focusing on the needs of others first before I focus on my own. ME fights the hardest here. This is where the battle rages the most. When I fail, I remind myself of my need for grace and move forward again. When I succeed, I give glory to JESUS, not to ME.
How do you react to this? How does ME need to die in you so that JESUS is enlarged?
ME, evidently is in the same category as "I", the smallest word in the dictionary. An egotist remains status quo, where righteousness is concerned. To be be like Jesus, one must see their fellow man as a "real person" with all the needs open to humankind, and act accordingly. No one, in so doing, has to give up "stature" - to be like Jesus.
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