Episode 444: I’m Talkin…Greater

I’m Talkin', episode 444 for October 18, 2026.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin' microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week, we’re talking greater.

Greater can be an interesting word in this me-first type of world that we live in.

We think of the opportunities that we might be have to, that we might have, sorry, to put ourselves ahead of someone else and to be thought of as greater than someone else.

And the fact is that we often desire those positions, and then sometimes we feel like we’re owed those positions or we deserve those positions.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Today’s word comes from John 15, verses 12 through 13.

It says, This is my commandment: love each other in the same way that I have loved you.

There is no greater love than to lay one’s life down for one’s friend.

So this starts out as a commandment.

It’s something that Jesus is telling his disciples, and he’s telling them that this commandment needs to be copied by them.

And what that copy is of is of Jesus Christ.

You’ve seen the actions that I have.

You need to copy those actions.

And the action that he’s talking about in this set of verses is his love for his disciples and other people, and they need to have that same type of love.

And then this is where the word greater comes in.

There is no greater love than to lay one’s life down for one’s friend.

And in the Christian community, we believe in the same God.

We believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That makes us friends, and because we are friends in Christ, then we have the responsibility to lay our lives down for each other.

I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like or when that might occur in one’s life, but the fact is that to be great in the kingdom of God, we have to love other people, and we have to love sacrificially, and we have to realize that no greater love than to lay one’s life down for one’s friend.

And to have that opportunity and to step up and do that, then we become greater by becoming servants.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talkin' microcast.