“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:12-14

               Jesus commands us in these verses to love each other as He loves us. That is a high calling! Then He continues to say that the greatest love we can show is to lay down our lives for our friends. He loves us so much that that is precisely what He did for us….He laid down His life for us so that we may have life. I love the words to the song Lead Me To The Cross:

                        Lead me to the cross,

                        Where Your love poured out.

                        Bring me to my knees,

                        Lord I lay me down.

                        Rid me of myself

                        I belong to You.

                        Lead me, lead me to the cross.

           Christ poured out His love for us on the cross. He commands us, if we are to be His followers, His disciples, to lay down our lives for Him. If we are His friend, we will do just as He commands. We will give up our selfish, prideful selves to gain life in Him. If we do not lay down our lives and turn all control over to Him, how can we say that we love Jesus just as He loves us? If we cannot or will not turn our lives entirely over to Him, we will never know true love. If we do not know God, we do not know Love. Because God is Love (1 John 4:8). The two cannot truly exist apart from one another. We cannot love others the way Jesus calls us to love if we do not know Him and love Him. It is sacrificial love. Have you laid down your life for Christ? If you have not, you do not know what love He is speaking of. You have never experienced the greatest, most freeing love imaginable. If you have laid down your life for Him and denied yourself to follow hard after Him above everything else, you are experiencing the most amazing love there is: a deep, undying love for Jesus. Love that will literally bring you to your knees!

                 Heavenly Father, bring us to our knees and teach us to love just as you love us! May we experience true Love, which cannot exist apart from You because You are Love. Thank you for showing us what real love is through Your Son Jesus, who laid down His life for us. Thank You for being madly in love with us and desiring us to be madly in love with You! And Lord, once we fall head over heals in love with You, teach us to love others with the same sacrificial love. We love you. Amen.

          “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

           Jesus died for you and me an agonizing death on a cross. He did this as a man. A man who was tempted by everything we are tempted by and more. He experienced every temptation that you and I have ever faced. But in those temptations, He never sinned. So in verse 16 of chapter 4 in the book of Hebrews, Jesus calls us to draw near to His throne of grace with confidence. Amazing, huh? With confidence? Because Jesus experienced human temptation, He stands ready at the “throne of grace” to give immediate and sympathetic aid when we are tempted to enter into sin.

            Grace is defined as “that which a person is not entitled to by law, but which is extended to him as favor.” However, grace is NOT your license to freely and purposely sin, but instead is the very act of Christ that FREES us from the bondage of sin. We deserve death. Jesus died for us. We deserve condemnation. Jesus bore that for us. We deserve to live in bondage. Jesus freed us from that.

            God has given us and continues to give us unending grace and mercy through the death of His only Son, Jesus Christ. We too are called to be like Christ, to take on His characteristics, to strive to be like Him. We cannot do this on our own, so He further gifted us with the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). Therefore, we are also called to give grace, just as it has so freely been given to us. (Let me quickly point out the difference between grace and mercy: grace is receiving a pardon we do not deserve; mercy is not receiving the punishment we deserve.)

                So now I ask you: do you extend grace to those people you are in daily contact with? Your husband? Your children? Your friends? Your enemies? We are called to do just that. Give grace to others and to extend that grace without limits. “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32. We often ‘run out’ of grace for others, particularly those we love the most, like our spouses and children. Does God ever ‘run out’ of grace for us? Never. Christ is continually interceding for us. We are called to be imitators of Christ, and that includes giving unending grace to one another. Practice giving others grace this week and experience the blessings that can be reaped from it.

              Heavenly Father, teach us what Your grace truly means. Help us to know deep in our hearts that You have fully extended Your grace to us through Jesus Christ, Your only Son. Then, Lord, teach us how to love one another in the same way You love us and have called us to love, extending grace to one another and forgiving others just as You have forgiven us. Thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit to guide us in giving that unending grace to those people You have blessed our lives with. Amen.

by: Jill Johnson