The Greatest Love

   While I was student teaching at Lancaster County Christian School every day they have a verse of the day. On Valentine’s Day the verse was John 15:13 which says “greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends(some translations say brother).” Because I was working with first graders, I figured I would need to discuss this verse a little more.

   I asked the students what they thought this verse meant. They said it was talking about love but they could not get much more out of it. I decided to flesh out the verse a little more. I started off with saying we use the word love a lot. We say “I love cheese curls,” and “I love my mom.” Is that the same kind of love? They said yes and no. We did a bit of a history lesson and I told them that the Bible was written in many languages, one of them was Greek. In Greek there are five different words for love.

   I said do you love your brother/sister? Some students said yes, others said no. I then went into would you die for your brother? Many students said no.

   Next we talked about the greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment. We are to love God and love others. I talked about to love others we need to be nice to them and forgive them.

We then discussed what Jesus did for us. Jesus had agape love for us (back to the Greek words). His love for us was unconditional. Jesus forgave us of our sins and took away our guilt. He was willing to die for us before we were even on this earth. While we may not be willing to die for our family members or a complete stranger, Jesus was. This got the students thinking about what love really is.

   Why am I telling you all of this? It is because I want you to think about if you really know what love is. So many songs are written about love. But, many people do not actually know what love is. Real love isn’t the love you have for cheese curls or temporary things. Real love is unconditional. I should not have to buy someone’s love and, if I do, then that person will never really love me.

   Also, though we may never be asked to lay down our lives for anyone we need to think about what Jesus would do. As we grow in Christ we must stop thinking about the things of this world and start thinking about eternity. What can we do to help others in eternity? We can follow the Great Commission and love others by saving them from death. We need to tell others the good news so that none may perish but that all would feel the love of Jesus and have eternal life.

   So, do you actually know what love is? Are you willing to show others the unconditional love that Christ has shown us?

   Mark 12:29-31, Luke 6:35, Matthew 28:16-20