Thoughts for the Day
Thursday, 6th May 2021: Belief and action
Commandments John 15 Loving one another Love God Jesus
Reading : Verses from John, Chapter 15
Jesus said, 'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.'
(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)
Thoughts
This passage from John's gospel comes straight after the passage where Jesus talks about being the true vine, and ourselves as his branches. We are to remain connected to him and produce good fruit. Now he adds that we are to keep his commandments and in so doing will remain in his love.
Today, much of our world despises rules and regulations believing they should be able to make their own decisions about where and how they live their life. This has been apparent during the frequent lockdowns we have experienced during the pandemic. People have chosen to break these rules, not prepared to have a curb put on their own freedom.
However, Christians choose to accept that Christ imposes restrictions upon us, just as he obeyed His Father's commandments. One important thing to note is that Jesus doesn't just command us to have belief. He calls us to show that love in action. We will not remain in his love if we only have belief!
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
as You obeyed Your Father's commands,
and remained in His love,
so we ask Your help to obey Your commands,
and to show our belief through our behaviour,
both now and in the future.
Amen.
You might like to look up this cartoon video on the real meaning of love. It's a really good explanation of how God loves us, and is a video that's worth looking at again and again. It explores the Greek word agape, that we have come across before, which is one meaning of the word love.