Tith a what?

We have heard it before: The ultimate definition of love is "the laying down of one's life for another." When Christians hear that, they immediately think of the death of Jesus, who selflessly "laid aside His life" (died) for the benefit of His beloved. The Apostle John reiterates this in I John 3:16, and although the death of His Lord may be one thing that was on His mind, could he have been alluding to something else? If John wanted to say true love is demonstrated by the sacrificial death of someone on behalf of another, why didn't he say that? The word John uses is a Greek word, τιθημι (tith-ay-me), which simply means "to lay aside." The "laying aside" of one's life may include dying, but that is only one aspect.

What characterized our Lord was not just His sacrificial death on our behalf, but His sacrificial life. Jesus said "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many." He demonstrated the pattern in John 13 by washing His disciples feet shortly before His death. He set the pattern of what supreme love is. For the Savior, supreme love meant taking upon Himself the full measure of God's wrath on our behalf, but loving one another may not require a sacrificial death, but it does require a sacrificial life.

If we are to love as Jesus commands us, we must "lay aside" our lives for one another. This does not mean, as some may believe, that we can go on living our lives to please ourselves, but be willing, when the moment is right, to sacrifice our physical lives in order to allow another person to live, it means moment by moment, we sacrifice our own preferences, resources, time, energy, will, and desires for the benefit of one another. I confess to you I just read that sentence, and I'm convicted. If you are convicted, also, because you recognize your own insufficiency to love in this way, than be sure to thank your God, who loves us in this way, and is so patient with us, and may we all, by the power of His Spirit, learn to love each other that way.