Remain In My Love

ByJim Stephens

Scripture: John 15:9-14 (Click link for scripture in Bible Gateway)

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. (John 15:9-14 NLT)

Now Jesus shifts from the Vine and branches metaphor to the relationship of love between Jesus, the Father, and us. He said the branches must remain in the vine and the life of the vine remain in the branches so the branches can live and bear fruit. Now he says that connection happens because of love: The Father loves the Son with unconditional love. The Son loves the disciple/branches in the same unconditional way he is loved by the Father. The disciple/branches remain connected in that flow of unconditional love by obeying Jesus’ commandments.

Jesus’ commandments are: 1) Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength; 2) Love others (including your enemies) as you love yourself; and 3) Love each other as he has loved us. That’s what keeps us connected. That’s how the branches remain in the vine. That’s how we remain in Christ and Christ remains in us. The connection, the lifeline, is a flow of receiving and giving love. God’s love flows through Jesus into us and back to Jesus and the Father and out to others and flows among us. Love Will Keep Us Alive! This reminds me of a song by The Eagles, with Timothy B. Schmit singing the vocal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw-VTDkIEX4 (If you’re not an Eagles fan, feel free to skip the song!)

Here’s what happens when we keep Jesus’ commandments:

  • He will fill us with joy, not circumstantial joy, but his joy! Just as his peace is not the absence of conflict, but peace in the storm, his joy is not the absence of pain or sorrow, but joy that rises in the midst of pain.
  • Keeping his commandment, loving each other as he loves us, allows us to willingly lay down our lives for our friends, our brothers and sisters, our fellow Christ-followers.
  • We grow into a whole new kind of relationship with Jesus—Friendship!

Prayer:

Father, May we remain in Jesus’ love, in the flow of unconditional love! Amen!