Thursday, March 20 ~ Unity in Sacrifice

~~John 15:13
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  

~~Jesus does not ask us to die for him, but to lay down our lives for him. It is one thing to die and no longer be available physically. It is quite another to lay down a life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling. We are not made for brilliant moments; we have to walk in the light of them in very ordinary ways. Jesus laid out His life to do His Father’s will and by that example, John says we ought to lay down our lives for one another. Yet, it is contrary to human nature to do it.
We are commanded to love one another. The love of which Jesus speaks has its source in God, whose love for Jesus finds expression in Jesus’ love for his disciples. The disciples became Jesus’ friends as they obeyed his commands and shared his love among themselves. If we do as God commands, he calls us “friends.” It is a friendship based on the new life created in us which has no affinity with our old life but only with our life in God. Friendship with Jesus is a condition of receiving his revelation of God and assures us of unity with him and with all those he loves.
Sue McCracken.