Abide in My Love

-


Scripture: John 15:9-11 (ESV)

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Devotion:

            In these verses, Jesus is giving the disciples an intimate portrait of the love that exists between the Father and the Son and the Son and the disciples. These words were not recorded for the twelve apostles only. They apply to us as well. We know that the Father loved the Son with an extraordinary love. Without a strong bond of love, the power of God manifested in Jesus could not exist. What is the reason for this strong Father, Son love we see here? The keeping of commandments. It sounds strange to our 21st-century ears, but the love between the Father and Son is based on the Son’s obedience to the Father's commandments.

            What were these commandments? They are best summed up in Jesus’ own words. In Matthew 22:37-40, “37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(NIV) Jesus, being without sin, could keep these commandments perfectly. Jesus calls on us to keep these same commands.

            Jesus urges us to keep these commandments so that we may abide in His love. Unlike those who do not know and follow Jesus, who must scramble and chase down scraps of what they think is love. Christians are assured of Jesus’ love for them and can rest in that assurance. The assurance of Jesus’ love for us affects all we do. We no longer have to try and please God through our works. Our faith in God and our love for God and our neighbors is enough. All the love the Father has for the Son is given to us as well.

            This assurance of love we have in the Son should well up within us as joy. Jesus has joy knowing that the Father loves Him, and He can rest in that love. Joy is one of the descriptions of life in Christ that is missing in large sections of the 21st-century church. We have gone after cheap substitutes, and as a result, the world sees a joyless and often lifeless church and ignores us as irrelevant and even foolish. The problem is you cannot manufacture true joy. True joy erupts from a heart filled with gratitude and love. Let us pray that we may be filled with true love and gratitude for all God’s blessings and that our joy may be complete.

Prayer:

            Father in heaven, teach us to be so filled with love and gratitude for all you have done for us that we will be filled with joy. Let that joy be evident to all who know us as a witness to the greatness of our God. May we truly love every individual we meet with a love that springs from you. May we glorify your Holy Name above all others and rejoice in all your goodness for us. Let our passion and joy overflow to a hurting and joyless world. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcoming the Unwelcome

-
  Scripture: Luke 7:36-38 (NIV) 36  When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37  A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38  As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. Devotion:             First of all, some warnings to my readers. This post will exceed the 500 words I try to limit my posts. Second, this post will contain content people may find offensive or otherwise unfit for print. Please understand that my purpose is neither to offend nor upset but to provoke thought and, hopefully, respectful dialog.             We will use Luke chapter seven as an aid to interpreting the events that occurred last Thursday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. On that da
Read more

Father Forgive Them

-
  Scripture: Luke 23:33-34 (ESV) 33  And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34  And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Devotion:             The situation Jesus finds himself in here in today’s scripture is difficult for us to even imagine. A sham trial, no credible accusations of any kind, let alone any deserving of death, and yet here he is. A brilliant Rabbi, a teacher of the people who never led even one person astray from God’s will. This Holy One of God soon to be food for vultures.             This man who had done nothing wrong had no one in all the crowds who would speak up in his defense lest they be next to face the cross. An innocent man hung between two scoundrels. No voice from heaven declaring that this was the man that they were killing was actually the true Son of God. (See Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, John 12:28) No the heaven
Read more

Transgenderism letter

-
  This is a copy of my letter to my senators, representative, and President Biden. January 15, 2024 Dear President Biden, Senators T. Duckworth, R. Durbin, and Representative D. LaHood             I am writing to you because I am concerned about the situation affecting our children and grandchildren, namely transitioning them from one gender to another. This nation must adjust course concerning these “interventions” because they are dangerous, irreversible, and life-changing. Our country should not be permitting these procedures on minor children under any circumstances. We must also make sure that adults who seek this care are given informed consent as to the risks versus benefits of sex reassignment treatments.             There are many drawbacks to gender-affirming care for minors. Besides the loss of any ability to give or receive sexual pleasure and sterility these treatments cause, there are social and psychological effects that we have no way of identifying because these
Read more