John 15:10-17
Verse 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
We all know the feeling of expecting joy and we don’t need to try very hard to desire joy. Joy is something most everyone wants to experience and likely has from time to time. The joy of Christmas is wrapped up in the keeping of a promise. The joy that Jesus was telling His disciples about in our Scripture passage for today is based on obeying His commandments.
We may not associate obedience with joy because obedience often means doing something we aren’t naturally inclined to do. We don’t tend to find happiness unless we are getting our own way and yet Jesus is saying that for our joy to be fulfilled, we need to put ourselves to the side and put His ways first. Part of that is loving others before ourselves.
Loving others before ourselves isn’t about making ourselves doormats to others, it is caring for them in the way Jesus loves us. He values truth, kindness, trust, hope, is long-suffering, remains calm, and is persevering. This is how He wants us to love each other. His long-suffering is unmatched and there is no one we can trust as much as we can trust Him.
A couple of chapters before our passage for the day, Jesus went as far as to say that the world will know we are His followers because of our love for each other (John13:35). This is the command Jesus said would give us perfect joy. He never said it would be easy and that because people are His followers we would never have differences of opinions.
Knowing how obeying His command to love one another will bring us great, fulfilling joy, should inspire us to be purposeful in our love for each other. It is a choice. Do we want to be fulfilled with joy or not?
Making It Personal
Do you find joy in loving others? Do you find joy in loving difficult people? What can you do to change your heart of love towards others?
Making It Personal Kids
Is loving others easy? Are there people you find it hard to love? How does loving others give you joy?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for this reminder that we need to obey You by loving others. Give us hearts that truly love others and help us know joy as we have never had before. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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