#AdaWisdomChallenge
READ Proverbs 4 (listen). WRITE out one verse and SHARE with someone.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:13-14
Read: John 15:12-15
Listen: John 15
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Just hours before he was betrayed, Jesus took one final opportunity to encourage the men who would continue his message of grace and forgiveness. Jesus had a lot to communicate during the meal we call “The Last Supper.” With the clock ticking towards the cross, we might be surprised to find out he talked about being a friend. Jesus told these men they were no longer just his followers— they were his friends.
Hearing this was important. Their responsibility as a friend of Jesus was to love others as Jesus had loved them (John 15:12). Jesus loved them by going first. John the Apostle wrote in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” Jesus went first by leaving the glory of heaven, becoming a human, showing us how to live, and then suffering, dying and rising from the dead. He “went first” by laying down his life for his friends.
Among other things, friendship with Jesus means we should “go first.” We should love and serve before the other person loves and serves us. It’s this approach that God often uses to restore fractured friendships and failing marriages. We are called to follow this example.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Move deeper in your understanding of Jesus as your Friend with a time of confession and worship. Watch “Jesus, Friend of Sinners” by Casting Crowns to prepare your heart. Confess those areas where you’re refusing to “go first.” Thank God that Jesus did “go first” for you.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
