Words from the Rock
You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:16–17 NLT
Do you know how it feels to be lined up and waiting to be chosen for a team? Like when team captains take turns picking the best athletes or their best friends to be on their team. Along with everyone else who’s waiting, you don’t want to be the last one standing there. You don’t want to feel humiliated when you see disappointment wash over the face of the team captain who gets stuck with you.
You will never have to experience that kind of uncertainty and insecurity with Jesus. He points directly at you and says, “I want you. You belong with me. I need you on my team. Come on, let’s go!” Jesus makes it clear right from the start that he chose you even before you knew him—he picked you to join him on a great adventure. He wants you with him.
Jesus also invites you to participate in his plan—his plan to reach out to others. The way he expects you to do that is actually fairly simple, and it’s something that should sound familiar by now. Jesus reminds you of his commandment to love each other—repeating it often because he knows you need to hear it again and again. In the same way he chose you, the same way he made you his friend, the same way he loves you . . . he wants you to choose others, befriend others, and love others. That’s how you show you’re on Jesus’s team.
My Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for choosing me! Teach me to spot people who need to be included, and help me to reach out to them. Please show me new ways to love others.
Amen.
Final Word
Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.
2 John 6 NLT
Stone for the Journey
God chose me to show his love to others.