Jesus is the Greatest Love of All

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” JOHN 15:13 NIV 

Recently my family went white water rafting. As a surfer, I love having an exciting time in the water. Problem was, this water was melted snow from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and I didn’t have a wetsuit. Also, I had a career where I ran into burning buildings, so I chose to ignore the safety lecture from the college kid in charge of our raft. I changed my tune an hour later, though, when I found myself clinging to the side of the raft in frigid rapids. My family chose to laugh at me, and I had to rely on the college kid to get me back into the raft. 

If you’ve ever been on a similar trip, you know that the guides definitely want you to stay in the raft. If you do fall in, though, most guides will do their very best to help you, right? Their business revolves around you having fun . . . and leaving them a five-star review on Yelp. 

But imagine if you were on a family raft trip, and just as you made it to shore at the end of the day, a grizzly bear charged out of the trees. Out of one hundred rafting guides, I actually guarantee several would try to fight off the bear or otherwise give their lives to help you survive. Humans are capable of some amazing acts of bravery. However, there’s no way every guide would put themselves between you and the bear—even if they did, their sacrifice would probably be in vain. 

Forgive me for comparing Jesus to a hypothetical rafting guide. But I love that Jesus speaks today’s verse to His friends before His death on the cross. He knows what is about to happen, which makes His definition of love infinitely more powerful. That’s the amazing truth about Jesus. He sacrificed His life for His friends, yes—and His friends are all of us. Everyone! Truly, no one has greater love than Jesus, because only Jesus can give His life for the entire world. 

The option to not love us will never cross Jesus’s mind. He already chose to die for us, and in the process He defeated death and made it possible for us to live with Him forever—both in this life and in eternity. 

In firefighter talk, Jesus won’t even consider bailing on us. Even the bravest and best humans can let us down, but Jesus never will. 

Takeaway: Jesus’s love is the only love you need, because it’s the only love that is perfect. 

Prayer: Jesus, You already laid down Your life for me. Thank You for Your love, which is the greatest love of all. 

This is an excerpt from Jesus is All We Need by Jason Sautel – a devotional now available for pre-order on DaySpring.com. Shop all books, journals, and devotions from DaySpring here.