Great Love Shows Up
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:9-15, 17 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.15.9-17.NIV
Jesus loves us and, in friendship, He calls us to participate in His mission with Him. Typically people are rescued anr then carted off to recovery. They have a Sprite in a styrofoam cup and get over whatever they got saved from.
Jesus didn’t save us for that.
The salvation that Jesus brings included a lifeling friendship in which we get to work together saving more and more folks and inviting them ino this great kingdom.
You might not ever have to lay down your life for a friend, but laying aside judgment, prejudice, preference, or bitterness may be just as difficult. Laying these things down for the sake of others is a tangible and clear sign of our live and God’s love.
Pray for a greater capacity of love. Pray for opportunities in which to show it to others that need it. Jesus showed us an example because He knew that we could do it.