Connections that Count |April 2, 2021

Read 

John 15:13-17

13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Reflect

· How do the words of Jesus in John 15:13 illustrate the self-giving nature of Jesus’ love?

· How do those same words prepare his disciples for what is about to happen?

Apply 

• On this Good Friday, read and meditate on verse 13. Write down (in your journal or elsewhere) your feelings about Jesus’ willingness to give up his life for his followers—not only for the first-century disciples, but for us as well.

Pray

Jesus, it’s hard for us to fathom just how far you would go to show your love for us, even when we’re at our very worst. Help us to be mindful of your parting words to your followers, and stir us to show sacrificial love to one another, even when it comes at a cost to our own interests. Amen.