Daily devotional · February 15
Friends of Jesus
“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is My command to you: Love one another.”
Jesus tells his disciples that he no longer calls them servants but friends, because a servant does not know the master's business and he has shared everything the Father told him. That is an astonishing offer. Friendship with him begins with his choice, not ours, and it shows itself in a shared life of love: remain in his love, keep his commands, and love one another as he loved us. The joy he promises comes from that remaining. It is easy to treat faith as a to-do list; Jesus frames it as a relationship. Today, treat him as a friend. Talk to him as you would to someone walking beside you, telling him about your day without polishing it. Then do one act of love for someone else, and let it be a way of staying close to him.
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for calling me a friend. Help me stay close and love others as You do. Amen.