Tag Archives: Friends

Get the Message?

Posted on July 11, 2021 | Leave a comment

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater 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. NIV
“I am the true vine,
Remain in me, as I also remain in you.
remain in the vine.
Remain in me.
I am the vine;
remain in me
remain in me,
remain in me and my words remain in you
remain in my love.
remain in my love,
remain in his love.
Love each other as I have loved you.
I no longer call you servants, because
a servant does not know his master’s business.
Instead, I have called you friends,
I chose you
This is my command: Love each other.”
❤️

Everything

Posted on July 28, 2019 | Leave a comment

John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater 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.

The “everything” of v15 was the primary word that caught my attention as I read. Then a simple word count of other key words in the passage became a sort-of-outline for me today; choose/chose [2], servant. [2], friends [3], Father [2], and finally, Love [4].

We love being “chosen.” We are blessed to be called a “servant” of Christ. It’s even better to be called a friend but it’s a humbling to realize that our determination, time commitment, intellect and choice to follow Christ are not the same as “everything.” A servant’s loyalty can mimic friendship but not necessarily be evidence of the shared intimacy of love.

You were “appointed”…so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last…” fruit based on a special love relationship. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” is a really important part of our personal relationship to Christ because it’s a really important part of the shared intimacy of love between Jesus and his Father. That relationship is the primary part of “everything” Jesus wants to share with you. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

Need

Posted on August 1, 2018 | Leave a comment

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

James mirror reference has reminded me of another important look in the mirror with another Bible friend, Rebekah, from June 12, 2015. That look in the mirror began with a very different emphasis: Genesis 27: 13 “Let his curses be on me, dear son. Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats.”

If you’re a parent those words “Just do what I tell you,” may seem very familiar. This time though, they bring to mind how frustrated, manipulative and controlling they sound when I read Rebekah’s words…and they are. I don’t know whether to be consoled by the realization that I am not alone having spoken them or appalled that I didn’t know any better when I uttered them. It seems like a bit of both actually…the flesh and the Spirit locked in their lifelong struggle.

Rebekah is today’s Biblical looking glass for me to see the reality and opportunity found in her example. These are lyrics to a song I wrote in bygone days.

In the mirror I see
Two eyes looking back at me.
Two eyes trying to see
A picture of what I can be.

That’s the flesh part and the reflection is not always pretty but my song goes on…

Won’t you picture God for me my friend?
Won’t you be my mirror when I pretend?
Won’t you help me to see?

That’s the Spirit part. I can’t always see myself clearly. The reality is there are times when only a friend can help me to see.

Some might say Rebekah is just an Old Testament character, long gone, but maybe she’s in the Bible to be that friend for me today. A friend who has the ageless ability to show me how God works even when I’m at my manipulative worst…a Kingdom friend who says: “Look in that mirror once more and see what I’ve pictured for you. This is what ‘not Godless but not Godly either’ can look like. I’ve shown you my humanity so you can recognize it in yourself and choose something better.”

Epilogue:
Thank God for these Bible friends. I need them. I don’t always see the reflection of their faith I’d like when I look into the mirror with them but their lives consistently show me one of the most important aspects of my faith: the challenge of recognizing your need. I’m not willing to settle for just being not Godless but not Godly either. I need to look “intently into the perfect law that gives freedom [Jesus]” and continue in it.

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