"FRIENDS FOREVER"

Friday, May 11, 2007
Reading: John 15:12—17

“There is no greater love than this: To lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” If anybody knows what he’s talking about, it is Jesus Christ. He laid down his life for us. Mothers and fathers do that every day for their children. They don’t die every day in the physical sense, but they certainly do in the emotional and psychological and spiritual sense. They give of themselves for their children so that their children will have not only the necessities of life but as much of the extras as they can obtain for them. Parents deny themselves so that their children can have.

Loving husbands and wives do that for each other too. The same with brothers and sisters, even those who we think are always fighting. When they think nobody’s looking they might be noticed doing something quite loving and generous for one another.

Friends do good for each other all the time. That’s why they’re called friends. Even strangers have been known to go out of their way for one another. Some have even given up their physical lives for the good of someone they had never seen before. Military people are doing that somewhere in the world probably every day.

Next time you go out of your way for someone, next time you sacrifice yourself for someone, next time you do something good for anybody, consider yourself lucky for having been able to do it. You are being given an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Christ. You are also being given an opportunity to pay back some of what both Jesus and others have done for you. “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Shall we all be friends?