No greater love… – 18 September 2009

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:12-17 [NIV]

Love puts the needs of others above that of self. Jesus did not value the life he lived on earth more than the lives of all who have followed (and will follow) him. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us. 

How tough is your life this week? Does the remembrance of what Christ went through put some of your difficulties in perspective? It is very easy to get bogged down in our own frustrations and regrets – better is to focus on the fundamental facts and let them define our perspective. Life is a gift we are generously given and we are to have it “to the full”:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 [NIV]

Lord, you have given us life in all fullness – help us to express our gratitude and live the life you want us to live, Amen.