“This is my command: Love each other.” –John 15:17
Think back to a time when your heart was overwhelmed with love for someone else. Maybe it was while you were watching your newborn baby sleep or staring into the eyes of your spouse on your wedding day. Whatever the occasion, I’m sure you remember the intense feelings that overcame you. Your heart may have skipped a few beats or you might have had trouble catching your breath.
This is the same love God has for us. He watches us while we are sleeping and I’d bet that He is just as overwhelmed by His love for us. Why else would He send his Son to die for us? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 is probably one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, and for good reason. God so loved us. He loved us so much that even though we sin and continue to try to live the way we want, He still so loves us.
In the book of John, chapter 15, Jesus refers to himself as the vine, his Father as the gardener and we are the branches. About 13 times in the first 10 verses Jesus reminds us that we must remain in Him and his love if we want to be successful in whatever we do. Remaining in Jesus and his love allows the Father to work on us (pruning……it can be painful sometimes!) so that we do become more like Christ was. If we turn away from Jesus and his love for us, the Father has no reason to prune us anymore and He will just remove us from the vine. However, if we keep Christ’s word and love within us (see Proverbs 3:3 in the margin) we will bring glory to the Father.
In verses 11-17 of John chapter 15, Jesus tells the disciples the reason for remaining in Him. What is the reason we need to keep His word and love within us? So that we may have joy and we may be called His friend. Verse 13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” This is exactly what Christ did for us. He came to live among us, as one of us. He gave us a clear example of how to live like Him and love like He loved. Then He showed us what true love really is…….He died in our place.
Christ’s command in John 15, verses 12 and 17 was to love each other as He loves us. This might be easy if you only think about your family. Of course we love them and would lay down our lives for them. But what about our neighbors, co-workers, and people we pass by every day at the store or in their cars and those people we have never even met? Do we love them as Jesus would? Would we trade our lives to save them?
Lord,
Thank you for your love and for sending your Son to show us what true love really is. Please help us to love as you would. We don’t always think about others first so we pray that you will guide us with your Holy Spirit so that we will remain in you and your love. -Amen
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