Love takes action. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. In other words, Jesus sacrificed his life for us by dying in our place. He was our substitute and the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus denied himself and died in our place. This is love.
Imagine you are sentenced to die, and you are guilty of all charges; there's no way out. But someone stood up and said I'll die for him/her? And you're saying why? I don't know you, why would you do this? The person says, "Because I love you." This is Love!
Jesus took our place; that's love. Therefore, John says now that we know what love is, we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Not in dying for them; Jesus already did that, but in taking action to care for those who are in need. If you see someone who is in need, take action and make the sacrifice to help them. That's love.
May we move from words to actions and walk in love, the love of God that was demonstrated through Jesus Christ for our sins. Is there someone that you can give a helping hand to this week? Is there someone you can share with who needs something that you can do without? This is love, taking action to help those who are in need around us. This is a gift to God when we express love in action toward each other.
