Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 15.15.2

Let’s live in John 15:15 for another day. Jesus said to His disciples, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” The transformation from slave to friend occurred as He loved them as the Father had loved Him. The Father had given His Son the word that contained the power to set them apart from everyone else in the world. What were those words? To love. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 13:34; 15:12). Those were the words that pruned them. They removed the worldly, fruitless purposes that had governed their lives to this point. Without this new commandment, the defilement of worldly pursuits would clog up the life-carrying arteries of the branch. In giving them the command the Father gave Him to give to them, they were set apart to a new purpose or vision for their lives, namely, to live with Jesus to love everyone He loved for the glory of the Father. Through them, the Vine would love His own to the very end of time. As His love sap flowed through them, His friends would show the world that He lives. In the previous two verses, Jesus had told His disciples that the greatest expression of love is laying one’s life down for his friends and that His friends were those who obeyed His command to love as He has loved them. In giving them the word of the Father, to love with Jesus, they had been transformed from slaves to friends for whom He was laying down His life. The word of the Father has been preserved and delivered now to us in this generation, making us His friends if we believe in Him, receive them, and obey. Receive the pruning of the Father. Let all who hear these words, repent of living for selfish, worldly purposes. May we glory in His friendship and live to love with Him for the rest of our lives. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com