“I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me. You must continually let my love nourish your hearts. If you keep my commands, you will live in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by his love. My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness! So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.” John 15:9-13 TPT
Love: Meaning strong affection, desire, or devotion to … The love Jesus had for the Father without question, embodied them all. Yet, we are to follow his example. We are called to live like Jesus. When life is great, and all is well, with Jesus in our heart, living, loving, and forgiving like him are attributes we proudly carry, keeping us filled with his joy, so that through us, this joy, and these attributes shine. Therefore, our relationship with Jesus must remain solid, since unfortunately, life can tum around, and slaps us in the face, causing all grow dim.
In this passage, Jesus is providing for us the recipe, along with the necessary ingredients, for us to live our lives, regardless of the circumstance. He explains that our main ingredient is to be love, that of loving the Father, and each other, as Jesus has loved us, in the giving of his life, so that we might live with Him. Following his lead, using His Word as our guide, for us to continue to grow, we are to obtain and compile these ingredients, in order seek a life filled with joy and peace within. Imagine, that by knowing and using this, our hearts can be filled to overflowing with gladness, all for the asking!
Heavenly Father, help us to remember, that to love like Jesus, we must first know him, and all he has done for us, then follow his directions, and be ever so thankful.
In Christ Love
Margaret