“Remain In My Love”
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in
my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that
my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this:
Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay
down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and
so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my
command: Love each other.
John 15:9-17
We confide in our friends because we know the information we
give them will not be used against them. The same holds true for them. They
will not use that information against us.
Jesus began calling His disciples friends rather than servants
because He had entrusted them with everything He had heard from His Father.
Jesus trusted His disciples to use the information He gave them for the good of
His Father’s kingdom.
Although we know Jesus is our friend, can we say that we are His
friends? Do we listen to Him? Or do we only want Him to listen to us? Do we
want to know what’s on His heart? Or do we only want to tell Him what’s on
ours?
Christ’s friendship calls for our
faithfulness.
Our Daily Bread –