5th Week of Easter
I have called you friends. (John 15:15)
Doesn’t that make your heart skip? Jesus has called you his friend. You aren’t a slave or a subject or a liability. You are a friend, sharing a mutual trust and affection with him. The Son of God has chosen you. He has set his heart on you so that you can bear fruit for his kingdom, fruit that will last.
Lasting fruit—this isn’t an impossible goal, because Jesus, your friend, has given you access to his Father and all the resources of heaven. As a friend, he freely shares his Father’s thoughts and plans with you. And this is precisely what can make you have a lasting effect on the world. Because Jesus has his Father’s permission to give us whatever we ask for in his name, we will always have whatever we need to bear fruit. This is a far cry from slaves fulfilling their master’s whims. It’s a loving collaboration!
The only condition Jesus makes is that we love one another by laying down our lives for each other, just as he did for us (John 15:13).
Now, few of us will end up physically dying for someone else, but that’s not really an obstacle. We all have opportunities to practice self-sacrificing love every day. We can “die” by not insisting on our own ideas in an argument. We can die by doing something as simple as agreeing to watch a television show someone else chooses or by giving up a little bit of our time to get to know a new neighbor. Kids can do it by giving up some computer time to run a load of laundry for tired parents. Maybe we can visit with someone who lives alone or cook a meal for a neighbor who is sick or has a newborn. There is no shortage of ways we can lay down our lives!
The best news is that God will give us whatever strength, kindness, self-control, or patience we need to fulfill this call. We’re friends of his Son, and he is a very generous God.
“Thank you, Jesus, for calling me your friend. Pour your grace into my heart so that it overflows to those around me today. I trust that you will give me all the resources I need to bear fruit that will last.”
Acts 15:22-31; Psalm 57:8-10, 12
Daily Marriage Tip for May 23, 2014:
“Marriage is a public good, not just a private relationship. We have a public stake in healthy marriages…. Our society suffers with the collapse of the relationship of the couple who brings a child into the world.” (Bill Doherty) Support others’ marriages too.