"This is the message you heard from the beginning. We should love on another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil, and his brother's were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
"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. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
"Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands do and what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us."

-1 John 3:11-24

Christ isn't asking us for our money. Christ isn't asking us to go stand on street corners and hand out Bibles, telling strangers that hey, if they don't turn their lives around, they're sure gonna be in for it when they die. Christ is just asking us to love each other. In Matthew 23, Christ Himself says that the two greatest commandments are: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind," and "To love your neighbor as yourself." Don't judge. Don't condemn. Just love.

I once heard the argument, "But by telling them how wrong they are, and warning them that they're going to go to hell, I am showing them love!" That isn't love. Is that how you would show your spouse love? Or your family or friends? I wouldn't think so. At least, I wouldn't. No, talk to them, share with them, listen to them, pray for them, show them compassion, comfort them, or laugh with them, or both! Just be a friend. A real friend.


"Greater love has no one than this: That he lay down his life for his friends."

-John 15:13

Christ is the ultimate example of love. The ULTIMATE. He gave up His life for OUR sin, so that we wouldn't have to experience death. Of course, we all will experience death someday (unless Christ's return is before then, in which case we won't), but we'll experience the best kind of life when we do. And Christ didn't do anything wrong! The Sinless died to save the sinful. And for that reason, the curse of Adam is no longer upon us. We can be set free. And Christ did all of that because He loves us.


"...Freely you have received, freely give."

-Matthew 10:8b

So there it is. Christ sacrificed himself. So we should sacrifice ourself for our friends. In Jesus' name. Glory.