verses 12 - 14
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
verse 12 our Lord gives the command that Christians are to LOVE Christians... EVEN AS HE has LOVED US !!
SO, HOW much does HE love us???
That answer is in verse 13. HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE for US, his friends. He calls us friends....
Imagine that the CREATOR of the Universe, the Stars, solar systems, all the planets and every living thing, who merely SPOKE and created all these things, has called YOU and I his FRIENDS.... WHAT AN AWESOME blessing to be the friend of the LORD GOD over ALL....
WOW!!!
WHY ARE WE HIS FRIENDS?? IF we do whatsoever HE commands us to do..... verse 14. This means we are to be OBEDIENT to the direction of the Lord ALL the time, not SOME of the time...
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. JESUS CHRIST in the PERSON and office of MAN, laid down HIS LIFE on the CROSS for HIS FRIENDS, HIS CREATION, so that WE might have LIFE eternal as a result of HIM doing that...
Let your mind get wrapped around that for awhile....
the Hymn says: O How HE loves you and me! O how He loves you and me!! How true this great hymn is.....