Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John 15:13-15
Jesus is clarifying the definition of friendship. Friends lay down their life for each other. We can do this all at once when the circumstance calls for but usually we are called upon to lay down our lives in installments. Jesus’ friends obey His commands based on the fact that He has been the best friend by laying down the most for them. Friends also share information with each other. Jesus has given us all the information the Father has made know to His humanity. Like Paul at Ephesus, Jesus has kept nothing back. (Act 20:18-21) He has lived among us and taught us house to house (heart to heart) so that we know all we need to live for Him.
And that is the point! Jesus is calling us HIS friends. He is calling us to lay down our life for Him through obedience because He has told us all the Father has made known to Him. We are insiders by His Holy Spirit. Like the twelve we have the parables explained to us. We have the mind of Christ in us to give us understanding. The question is will we lay down our life for Him.
I encourage us to do just that. Let’s take all the wonderful things He has shared with us and used it for advancing His agenda. Let’s be great friends who in love lay down their lives for Christ. We know what to do. We are to live our lives according to His standard. We don’t necessarily have to fly of to a foreign country to tell others about Him. We need only to cross the street or the aisle in the supermarket. Some of us need only to cross our living room and tell our loved ones about what He has done for us. His will is clearly stated in the scriptures. When we do these written things He will reveal more for us to do by His Spirit.
His Friend,
Pastor Jason
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