February 10, 2025

John 15:12-17 (HCSB)
12 This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17 This is what I command you: Love one another.

Tim Kirkup
In these verses Jesus emphasizes the concept of sacrificial love, where he gives clear instructions to love one another just as he has loved each of us. Just think of what took place. Jesus became flesh knowing what was coming and there is no better example than in verse 13 where Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.” It’s not just a command, but a call to live out the same kind of love that Jesus demonstrated by giving himself for others. So how do we apply this passage to our busy, hectic and overwhelming lives? There is another chapter and verse that comes to mind (John 15:5) that tells me we must remain vitally connected to Jesus, “the one in Him that remains in me and I in Him produces much fruit.” To me, the key points are that we must be intentional and seek opportunities to show love through actions, forgiveness (which is for you) and service.