A Chosen Friend

A Chosen Friend

9) “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

10) “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.

11) “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may remain full.

12) “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

13) “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

14) “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.

15) “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.

16) “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

17) “These things I command you, that you love one another.

                                                                                  John 15:9 - 17

                                                                                                          NKJV

Does anyone else remember as kids, standing in a row of children, in gym class, waiting to be chosen by one of the two kids already picked to be team captains for whatever game you were about to play?  I do.  For those of us that didn’t excel in sports it proved to be pure torture. However, it was equally wonderful to hear your name be called.  It was such a relief! 

It’s a great feeling to be chosen isn’t it?  There are different events in our lives that lead us to Jesus.  Situations and circumstances bring us to a place of brokenness and we know our moment has arrived.  It is actually that tenderness of heart or God’s goodness and mercy that draws us to repentance (Romans 2:4) He actually initiated the contact and chose us.  According to our scripture passage, not only does He choose us but Jesus calls us friend.

Sounds lovely doesn’t it?  It’s wonderful to be considered a friend…especially a close personal one.  Jesus loved us enough to lay down His life for us…His friends.  He tells us in verse 15 that servants don’t know what the master does but since we are friends, He has made His plans known to us.  He clearly wants us to be involved and a part of what He is doing.  How awesome is that?

He truly is our friend.  The evidence to that affect is staggering, in that, He laid down His life for us!  He calls us friends but I want to set a question before you.  Are we His friends?  Are we fulfilling His criteria for friendship?  We don’t have to wonder or speculate and hope that we get it right.  We can know.  It is right there in red and white for us to see in verse 14.  It states, “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.”

That could sound really daunting but it isn’t meant to.  If we look to verses 12 and 17 of the passage, we find that the only thing He commands is that “we love one another as He has loved us.” In the beginning of this passage He talks about how that love between He and the Father and Jesus love towards us is all intertwined.  He tells us to abide in His love.  You would think it would be all about pleasing Him and in essence it is, but somehow in His great lovingkindness towards us we are the primary beneficiaries. 

There are two benefits to this friendship with our Lord.  The first, according to verse 11 is that His joy would remain in us and not only remain but be full.  The second, from verse 16, is that your fruit…your accomplishment as a result of this wonderful abiding love and how we draw others to Him, would remain also in the form of good fruit and produce discipleship in its purest simplest form…bringing the great commission of Matthew 28:19 to life, which is really the point of it all.

So, let us, in honor of His choosing us, as friends, live our love walk as a reflection of our friendship to Jesus!

Be blessed!

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

The original Thanksgiving holiday goes back to a celebration of the first year’s harvest between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.  While it has been celebrated traditionally in the United States in honor of that first harvest celebration, it has become a time of reflection of the year’s events…causing us to pause and consider what we are truly grateful for. 

I imagine that the Pilgrims were grateful for all the assistance they received from the Native Americans that helped to ensure not only their success but also their very survival in their new homeland.

As this year’s Thanksgiving Holiday approaches, I find myself now pausing to reflect on what it means to be truly thankful and what exactly I am thankful for. 

Over the last few years as my family has gathered during this time, one of the traditions that we have adopted and it may very well be true in your home as well, is to go around the room and each say at least one thing that we are grateful for.  In anticipation of this, as I think back over this past year’s events, many memories flash through my mind.  Some pleasant and some not so pleasant.  They are filled with highs and lows of every kind.   In fact, I can hardly believe they are all memories from this past year alone.  As I stroll down memory lane, my mind is invaded by a thought…a scripture, Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” 

As I am reflecting, I am amazed by yet another facet of God’s love for me.  I realize that the sad and not so pleasant moments don’t hurt quite so much.  I find that now there is comfort and peace attached to these memories and not so much pain as was once associated with them.  The blow of them has been softened.  And the happy remembrances bring a smile and sometimes an outburst of laughter.   The blessing comes in knowing that He is with us through it all in whatever capacity we need Him to be.  It’s such a comfort to have this confidence in Him, just as Moses had, when encouraging the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 31:6 which says, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you or forsake you.”

He is not only with us but He is also for us according to Romans 8:31. It’s win-win no matter what has transpired in our lives.  Bearing all of this in mind I have decided what I am truly grateful for. 

I am grateful for a God who is big and bad enough to hold the whole world in His hands and loving and personal enough to catch each one of my tears as they fall. 

I am thankful that we can all be His favorite, and that we can all have an intimate relationship with Him as well as the ability to come and worship Him collectively as His bride.

I am grateful that He chose me and that He chose you with our many differences and our varying strengths and weaknesses that collectively make up His heart…as we are made in His image. 

I am so very grateful for His grace and mercy, His chastening as proof of His steadfast love, His joy for mourning and His strength in my weakness.

I’m thankful for His Holy Spirit who makes me more like Him as I yield to Him and who comforts me when I’m sad and steers me toward truth when it’s easier to believe the lie of the enemy.

And finally, I am thankful for abundant life, divine health, and supernatural provision which are promised to me, as a joint heir with Christ, which, like all of His promises, according to 2 Corinthians 1:20 are “yes” and “amen”.

Given more time I could probably come up with a few more because He has just been that good and I am grateful.

What are you thankful for?

The Good Part

The Good Part

Luke 10:38-42

38) Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

39) And she had a sister named Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.

40)But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me.”

41) And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

42) “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

We’ve heard the story of Jesus' visit to Martha and Mary.  Martha is known for her much serving.  Mary on the other hand is known for sitting at Jesus feet and listening to what He said.  While Martha was busy tidying and seeing to her guests needs, Mary had chosen “the good part”.  As important as it was to be a good host, Mary recognized who her guest was and how important it was to stop what she was doing and take advantage of this rare and precious moment with Him.  She decided to sit down and enjoy her houseguest. 

We must take the time.  We must make the time to spend at Jesus feet, just like Mary did, hanging on His every word and cherishing every precious moment.  For out of this special time of intimacy with Him we are built up, encouraged, and made wise to correctly discern and accomplish which tasks are truly meant for our attention and which to discard as time robbers.  We can’t afford to neglect something so vital to our spiritual growth.  

So let’s remember as we are planning out our daily, weekly, or monthly schedule that along with family, work, school, social, and even church obligations, not to forget “the good part”.

Be blessed.