Today's Scripture
Keep Your Heart in Tune – John 15: 1 – 17
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 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. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 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. 16 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. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
RJ's Devotion
What the passage says
V. 1-3 Whoever is not in God will not bear fruit. The fruitless branch will be pruned.
V. 4-8 Jesus invites us to live in him. It is an acknowledgment that we can’t bear fruit on our own.
V. 9-15 It is the love of Jesus that invites us to be connected. The love we encounter from Jesus is the reason why we love him.
V. 16-17 Jesus reminds us that it was Jesus who loved us first. And Jesus is asking us to do the same: love others.
What does the passage mean to me/us?
“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love” (v. 9-10, The Message).
Jesus says that he has loved us the way God loves him. Meaning that God’s love is willing to give up everything that God has for us.
Jesus says, remaining in this love makes us feel at home. It means that we are only fulfilled by remaining in God’s love.
That is the reason when we fall away from God’s love, we feel unstable and empty. We can have all things, in our lives, but it will not be able to mend the hole we have.
Keeping the commands and remaining in that love, make us more stable in the relationship, which also leads to fulfillment.
In order for us to be sent into this world, we need to make sure that we are rooted in this love.
Like Jesus is sent to us to share God’s love, we are sent to the world to do the same.
And how will we do so, without remaining in that love?
Prayer
Lord, pour out your love on us. Help us to remain in you. Help us to share your love with others.
In Christ Name, we pray, AMEN
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