Lay down one's life for another
Scripture references
John 15:12–13 (ASV)
12This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. 13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ephesians 5:2 (ASV)
2and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.
1 John 3:16–18 (ASV)
16Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17But whoso hath the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? 18My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.
Stories
Nate was a missionary aviator in Ecuador who constantly put his life on the line as he flew in and out of the jungles of Ecuador serving missionaries on the field. For Nate it was simple, “God Himself set the pattern,” he said, “and if He did not hold back His own Son, why should we hold back our own little lives for the sake of security?"
A Chinese Christian soldier gives up his life for his fellow soldier, displaying a love that made the fellow officer cry.
Gladys and a convert of hers were about to be discovered by enemy soldiers while rescuing orphans during the Japanese invasion when the convert ran in the opposite direction, drawing attention to himself so Gladys and the kids could escape. He laid down his life for them.
Both Gerry and Dave speak about laying down their lives for others and they followed the command to the letter. They felt the conviction to be an open community, showing love to those around them by not hiding behind security fences. God gave them the grace to carry it through.
Three little children were missing on a cold autumn night. The eldest one, merely six years old, removed most of her clothes to cover her two siblings. She was dead from hypothermia when they were found, having sacrificed her clothes for her siblings, who were alive and safe.