HE CALLS ME FRIEND

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all the things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:11-17)

I sometimes find it difficult to fully comprehend and appreciate God’s love for me. It is easier for me to wrap my head around God’s other attributes. For whatever reason, I am more comfortable with God’s justice, righteousness, holiness, jealousy, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience than I am His love. Yet, in reading John 15:11-17, I am struck by what Christ has done for me.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 11:13) I can watch a movie, a tale of fiction, where the hero of the film willingly sacrifices his life to save others and I find myself moved to tears because of his sacrifice. But I don’t know if I have ever allowed myself to fully drink in the sacrifice Christ made for me. Not only did He die for me, but He calls me friend! Really? I mean think about this for a second…if my favorite movie star knocked on my door today and we became fast friends, you better believe I would be telling people about it. And, if my movie star friend willingly gave his life for mine, I most certainly would be singing his praises. Isn’t that exactly what Christ has done? Christ, the SON OF GOD, has knocked on my door and asked me to follow Him, to be His friend and He willingly died for me that I might have eternal life! Yet, am I telling others; am I singing His praises to those who don’t yet know Him? It is easy to sing His praises to other brothers and sisters in Christ, but am I telling everyone I know about what He has done for me? Unfortunately, I am faced with the sad reality that I would more likely tell others about my movie star friend that saved my temporal life than the Lord, my God who saved me eternally. Wow, that stings!

I have heard the story of Christ’s sacrifice for me since I was a young child, but I don’t know that I have ever really allowed it to land. With the celebration of Easter or Resurrection Sunday fast approaching, I intend to fully submerge myself and meditate on Christ’s love for me and the sacrifice that He made for me because of that love. Maybe then I can begin to comprehend and appreciate the magnitude of His love. Maybe then, I will sing His praises to all I meet and not just to the saved.

COACH’S CALL TO ACTION

• What does Christ’s sacrifice mean to you?
  
• What impact does this have on your life?
  
• How will you prepare for Easter or Resurrection Sunday?

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