I have been in several conversations with men of all statures, and have heard them all say they would gladly lay down their life for their wife and family. What I heard them saying, is they would jump in front of a stray bullet or push them from in front of an out of control car. But what I didn’t hear them saying while they were talking about their lives is this. I will lay down my life for my family. Let me explain. In this day and time “Life” can be defined in many ways.
The obvious is the opposite of death, in that we humans are still breathing and have a heartbeat. A little less obvious is by the life that we live, whether it be our accomplishments, our status or just merely the mundane everyday things that we do. A popular country song talks about this a man falls off the wagon and his friend finds him at the local bar. He is discouraged because he’s been out of work, several things are broke and he just found out he is going to be a dad again. His friend simply says “it sounds like life to me”.
In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” I can’t help thinking that Jesus was saying, leave everyone and everything behind. Jesus lived a very simple life in front of his disciples for them to learn from and now we read about it in our bibles, thus giving us the same example to follow. In John 15:12 Jesus gives us this command, “Love each other in the same way I loved you” and then followed it with verse 13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
In 1 John 3:16-18 we are told what real love is, “16 We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. 17 But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help -- how can God's love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.” So if we are going to say we love our families, our actions better say the same. We might have to give up a lot of our personal time to spend with our families, we might even need to work a little less, even in these days of economic hardships. Nothing tells your family that you love them more than your TIME. In Ephesians 5:25 Husbands are instructed to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life to follow God’s plan for all of mankind, will you do the same today?
Remember “Step up not Out” by laying your whole life down for your family not just your physical life. Giving up the physical is easy, but truly giving your life to better another’s life, man that’s something you can hang your hat own!
