Love and Joy Perfected

How is that for a title?  I have to admit I borrowed it.  I was spending time in my burgundy NKJV/Amplified Parallel Bible that has my name embossed in gold (that Pastor Arland gave me :-) and saw those words as the heading over John 15:9-17.  It caught my attention seeing as how LOVE and JOY are rather serious matters to me.  Reading there convinced me that my loving others is directly connected to the amount of joy that exists in my life.  Read it for yourself to see if you get the same impression.  

Jesus is speaking in the passage saying:

“As the Father loved Me, I also 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.” 

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you…These things I command you, that you love one another.”

In summary, He is saying:

·        I love you the way Father God loves Me

·        Live with My love as your way of life

·        If you follow My directives, My love will be your way of life the same way I follow My Father’s directives and  His love is My way of life

·        I am telling you this so that you can have My joy and you will be filled with joy

·        My command is that you love each other the way I love you

·        No one has a greater love than Me, Jesus Christ, the one who lays down My life for My friends

·        You are my friends if you do what I direct/command you to do

·        What I direct/command you to do is to love one another

 

Jesus wants loving others to be our way of life….our standard…..our norm!  And not just any old love, we are to love as He loves us – love others enough to lay down our life for them.  I appreciate the fact that He makes it plain.  He puts it out there for us to embrace and be rewarded with His joy & fullness of joy, or reject it and continue with a mediocre life.  Personally, I want all the joy I can get.  I said in an earlier blog that joy is a gift that you get when you place your trust in God.  Trust Him and make loving others your way of life.  You will reap dividends in joy, like you could have never imagined.