“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. … Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:9-13, 15-17 NLT) Did you notice how many times Jesus used the word “love”? And did you also notice He called us “friends”? There is such an incredible intimacy in this passage. Jesus literally commanded us to love with our very lives. A love that impacts eternity, our families, and what our families do and take part in as believers.
Today’s passage in the Message Bible …
“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love. “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. … I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father. “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you. “But remember the root command: Love one another.
How can you grow in your love for your kids … the kind of love Jesus talked about here?
How can you love one another better inside your own home?
How can you lead your kids to love people … not just certain people or people that look like them but everyone?
The answers to these questions are what your faith is all about.
Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I need to grow in love… my love for You, myself, my kids, and others. Help me to teach my kids how to love … love like You. As above, so below.”