The Commandment and Abiding

"As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; continue ye in My love.  If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  This is My commandment, That ye love one another; as I have loved you".  John 15:9-12

These verses belong together and provide much to ponder.  Jesus first said, "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love."  then skipping to verse 12 we read, "This is My commandment, That ye love one another."  This is a chain of command--the chain of love--that envisions God revealing Himself through Christ, and Christ revealing Himself through us.  It was necessary for God to reveal His character of love because Satan had successfully intimated that, instead of God being love, He was actually a phony, and unloving despot, in spite of assertions otherwise.  To meet the challenge, Jesus was sent to reveal God's love and in the process of revealing that love, gave Himself completely.  The greatest manifestation of that love was at Calvary, but Calvary was a long time ago, and God needs representatives that will reflect His love in the same way, and to the same degree, in our day.

Jumping to verse 13, Jesus added the following thought:  "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

This is an important consideration because more times than not we think giving one's physical life for another person is the epitome of love.  I would propose that this verse refers to something more, for it is actually easy for a person to give his or her physical life, and even be proud of doing so; and many men and women have willingly taken the deathblow for the sake of love.  Is this what Jesus was talking about?  No, He wasn't taking about that kind of thing at all.

I always thought it was physically dying for someone else, but tomorrow we will find out what it really means.  Which might be harder than physically dying. We will see what the answer is next time.
I hope you are enjoying the fact that we can have a close relationship with Christ, it is our choice if we do or don't.  I am praying that you do.  It is so important to have the fruit of the Spirit, everybody wants these fruits, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, and temperance but not everyone wants them enough to choose to abide with Christ full time, by that I mean, always be in the attitude of prayer, so you can call on Him anytime and anywhere, let Him be on your mind in everything you do and say and you will have those fruits.  Grandma Joan