April 20: THE GREATEST LOVE


Sometimes, being a friend is not the easiest choice to make. Yet, when we are willing to leave behind our own desires for the sake of another, the consequences can be long-lasting, even life-changing. Charles Dickens' classic Tale of Two Cities presents a wonderful illustration of John 15:13.

Set during the French Revolution, it is the story of two friends, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a young Frenchman who has been thrown in a dungeon to await the guillotine. Carton is a wasted English lawyer whose life has been one of careless reprobation.

In a beautiful allegory of Christ's atonement for us, Carton slips into the dungeon and exchanges clothes with the prisoner, allowing Darnay to escape.

The next morning, Sydney Carton makes his way up the steps that lead to the guillotine. His final words are triumphant “I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no more—it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” —Charles Dickens's, Tale of Two Cities (New York: Modern Library, 1996).
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down ones life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:13-15 NKJV)
 


This is the love God has for us. The Father loves us enough to send His only son to a planet rife with corruption and hopelessness (John 3:16). The Son loves us enough to die in our place. The Spirit loves us enough to remain in us—no matter what! This is God’s love.
 
 
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