John 15:9-17 (NRSV)
Read John 15:9-17 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Verse 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Verse 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. Verse 12"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Verse 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. Verse 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. Verse 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. Verse 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. Verse 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Devotion
My wife, Trishia, and I tutor fourth graders at a local elementary school. Recently I was finishing a reading lesson with my student, we said our goodbyes and he left for his next class. A young girl and her tutor across from me were also just finishing their work. She had completed a very difficult lesson and her tutor said, "WHEW!" The program coordinator was near and said to the girl, “That was hard work today, wasn’t it?” The young child responded: “Yeah, but it was GOOD work!”
Trying to live and love as Christ would have us live and love in this world is much the same. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, letting justice roll down like waters and loving our neighbors as ourselves is hard work. But as this young child reminds us, it is also good work.
Prayer
God, give us the energy and faith to love you and our neighbors as ourselves. Amen.