Living Life by Loving

Living Life by Loving

‘AWord From the Pastor’ 'This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:1213) Often times to save a life another life may be required. ABC news (29 May, 2012) and Associated Press reported, Sgt. Dennis Weichel, 29, died in Afghanistan as he lifted an Afghan girl who was in the path of a large military vehicle barreling down the road to avoid a roadside improvised explosive device. Moving the girl out of the way, (she was picking up empty shell casings to sell) he was run over by a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle weighing 16 tons.

Staff Sgt. Ronald Corbett, who deployed with Weichel to Iraq in 2005, said, 'He would have done it for anybody,' adding, 'That was the way he was.

He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was that type of guy.'

In his eulogy, Rhode Island National Guard commander Maj. Gen.

Kevin McBride said “Dennis Weichel had the courage of a warrior, but that isn't what drove him to save Zaillah (the girl Sgt.

Weichel saved). What drove Dennis to save that child was the heart of a father,” “The heart of a father.”

Jesus has this “fathers heart” too. He gave His life for my life, for your life. As Jesus said in John 15:13, there is no “greater love” known or displayed than when one gives his (or her) life for another.

Jesus spoke of what people “love,” who people “love,” and what true love can produce. In the letters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the word “love” is mentioned more than 65 times. In the whole of the New Testament, “love” is spoken of more than 225 times. Jesus even commands His followers to “love” our neighbors.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, tells us that, “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

Our capacity to love can grow in strength and commitment, and, as Paul wrote, “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Followers of Christ, I encourage you to grow your willingness and ability to love others by following after Christ with all your heart and be obedient to His calling on your life.

Live your life by loving others to the point of giving your life in service, devotion, and, if need be, like Jesus Christ or Sgt.

Dennis Weichel.

Clayton Adams is pastor at Earle First Assembly of God. You can e- mail him at cpalaa@ yahoo. com, or find Earle First Assembly on Facebook.

By Clayton Adams