Love Gives All
12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.
John 15:12-15 CSB
Ready
In high school I was the kicker for our football team, and one Friday night we played one of our toughest opponents. With about two minutes left in the game, our team made a huge stop and forced the other team to punt the ball to us. We started the drive in our own RedZone, and my coach came up to me and said “Get ready, this game will come down to your kick.” If you hear this as a kicker, you start to sweat. My teammates, my friends, gave their all and drove us down the field to our opponents 20 yard line. With only three seconds to go, my best friend walked me onto the field, completely exhausted from the previous drive, and said "You got this." The snap, the hold, the kick… ITS GOOD!
We went on to win 10-7 and a reporter wanted to interview me. The question was, “What was going through your mind before the kick?” and I replied, “My friends gave their all for me to be here, so I knew I had to make it for them.”
Set
Jesus teaches his disciples that true love for one another won’t come from sacrificing for yourself, but instead sacrificing yourself for your team around you. In a sports world that sometimes glorifies the player instead of the team, or records over the culture, I believe Jesus is calling us as coaches and athletes to live with sacrificial love for one another.
What would your team look like if you lived and loved one another this way? What would your coaching staff look like if you served one another this way? What would our families look like if we loved in this way? I believe it would change the world.
Jesus always calls us, his disciples, to places he has already gone before. Jesus is speaking here of the work he will do for his team, for his church. Christ says, “Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus is calling his shot here. He will show his disciples and the world his “all out” love on the cross. Jesus is calling His disciples to a love that He makes possible through His Spirit in us. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.”
He went there so we could go there. This “all out” love will in turn show our teams, our communities, and our world his love. And when we live it out people will notice ask, “What was going through your mind during that moment?” and we can reply, “My Savior gave it all for me, so I in turn gave it all for those around me."
GO
1. What does it mean to you that Jesus gave his all for you?
2. How does that love change the way you view your coaching or athletics?
3. What practical ways can you show this “all out” love to those around you?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mikel Hawks | Creative Director Pacific Northwest FCA
Born and raised in Virginia, Mikel alongside his wife Alyssa moved to Portland in 2017 to be a part of what God is doing in Portland. Mikel has a passion for FCA because he has experienced the power of FCA. Mikel became a disciple of Jesus in 2014 at an FCA College Advance in Chattanooga, TN. He has now been on staff since 2017 as first an Area Rep but now serves as the PNW Creative Director. He has a passion for the story of Jesus and how that story is playing out through the vehicle of FCA.
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