A MODEL OF LOVE

John 15:9-17 (NRSV)

[Jesus said] "As the Father has loved me, so I 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. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

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No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
- John 15:13 (NRSV)
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ONE moment my arms were full of incoming mail; the next moment I had tripped on a cable on the floor, spilling the mail in all directions. Embarrassed, I tried to get up; but I couldn't move. I didn't know at the time that the fall had broken my hip. My co-workers gathered around, encouraging me to lie still. Tears filled my eyes.

"What's the matter?" asked my friend Shirley.

"I'm afraid," I whispered.

She then lay down next to me and told me I could rest my head on her outstretched arm. Shirley stayed with me until the ambulance came and was a comfort to me after surgery.

Jesus may have been speaking of himself when he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (niv), but he also was giving a model for what we can do. That day Christ used Shirley to show me God's love when she lay down next to me.

When we sacrifice anything in our lives for the good of others, we in some measure reflect Christ's sacrifice. When someone acts in my life as Shirley did, it motivates me to reflect Christ to others.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your love and for friends who mirror your love for us. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
God stays with us in fearsome times.

-- Sue Tornai (California, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Someone injured in an accident