"Brotherly Love"

 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13 KJV)

  "Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God." (Ephesians 5:2 NLT)

 Looking at this from a different perspective, this act of sacrifice was well planned out, as Jesus was sent to die on the cross for us; therefore, His death was well planned out and was to be expected. For the sake of argument, let's just say that we must prepare our hearts to be willing to do whatever it takes to love one another; even if it might require laying down our lives, for the sake of love! 

 If you haven't seen the movie, "Brother's Keeper," it has the perfect illustration of what this means, and why it is that there is no greater love than this. In the movie, we have two brothers that are identical twins; growing up together, one was a rebel, the other wanted to become a Pastor and spread the Gospel. 

 Long story short, the one that wanted to be a Pastor was framed for murder and sent to prison, looking to be executed; while the other brother, felt obligated to fulfill his brothers hopes and dreams, becoming an ordained minister; thereby getting the rights, to give his brother last rights, before his execution. Wow is just the beginning of the message, because there was so much more to this than one sitting can explain.

 The brother in prison had been hit with both barrels of discouragement; having been framed and placed in prison, he was feeling as if God had abandoned him, let along, that he was going to be executed. To make matters worse, his brother came to visit him, letting him know how he was going to become ordained, as if to make up for his missed opportunity to do the same. Which actually did not help his discouragement but caused him to be enraged by his brothers plan to live out the life he wanted for himself. 

 In the prison was an orderly that was a Christian, who had tried to minister him, telling him that as long as he had breath, he could be used by God. But his anger and discouragement kept him bitter and afraid to die; as if there was nothing God could do with him, and as if there was no hope for what comes after. 

 There is really only one cure for that sort of brother, to set him free from his depression and fear...

"When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, thought someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:6-11 NLT)