Laying Down
READ
John doesn't mess around in today’s passage. He takes the concept of faithful love and strips away all the spiritual-sounding fluff. "Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." In other words: stop talking about love and start doing it.
Let’s take a moment to read 1 John 3:16-18:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
REFLECT
His example is striking: "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?" That's not a gentle suggestion—it's a confrontation. John is saying that if you call yourself a Christian but walk past obvious need without responding, something is fundamentally wrong.
This is what faithfulness in relationships actually looks like. It's not the emotional warmth you feel during worship or the beautiful things you say about loving others. It's what you do when you see concrete need and have the power to meet it. Faithfulness is the ability to keep stepping toward people's needs, even when it costs you something.
Think about how Jesus defined love: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." That's the standard. Now, most of us won't be called to literally die for others, but we are called to lay down our lives in smaller ways daily. Laying down your agenda to listen. Laying down your money to help. Laying down your comfort to serve. Laying down your preferences to accommodate. Laying down your evening to be present.
Here's what's challenging: it's easier to love humanity in general than to love your actual neighbor specifically. It's easier to feel compassion for poverty globally than to help your coworker struggling with rent. Faithful love isn't abstract—it's concrete, inconvenient, and costly.
But here's what's also true: much of our failure to love in action comes from fear. Fear that we won't have enough if we give. Fear that people will take advantage. Fear of getting too involved in messy situations. But remember—God has been so faithful to us in our past. He's provided, protected, and sustained us. That history of His faithfulness frees us to be faithful to others, trusting that He'll continue to provide what we need.
Faithful love in action doesn't require perfection. You won't meet every need or do everything right. But it does require consistency—continuing to respond when you see need, learning and growing in your ability to help effectively, staying engaged rather than becoming numb to others' struggles.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
Is there someone in your life right now with a practical need you could meet but haven't? What's holding you back?
How can you move beyond feeling compassion to actually demonstrating it with your time, resources, or energy this week?
What fears about the future might be preventing you from faithful, generous love in the present?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Jesus, You didn't just talk about love—You demonstrated it by laying down Your life for me. Forgive me for the times I've loved with words instead of actions. Open my eyes to the practical needs around me and give me courage to respond. Help me trust that as I give faithfully, You'll continue to provide faithfully for me. Make my love real, concrete, and costly. Amen.