DAILY DEVOTIONAL: WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2020
SCRIPTURE READING
John 15:10b (KJV) even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
Jesus here connects His disciples obeying His commands and He Himself obeying His Father’s commands: “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”
Jesus doesn’t tell us to do something that He won’t do Himself. When He tells us to obey His commands, He then immediately tells us that He obeys His Father’s commands. This is like your Mommy telling you to obey her, but then telling you that she herself obeys her husband (your Daddy).
We are to obey our superiors. Do you know what “superiors” are?
We are to obey those God has put in authority over us—they are our “superiors.”
To say they are our “superiors” doesn’t mean they are better than us. It means they are in authority over us.
God the Father is not better than Jesus. God the Father and God the Son (Jesus) are equal, but God the Son says He obeys God the Father. Your Daddy and your Mommy are equal, but God commands your Mommy to obey her husband (your Daddy).
Part of our sinfulness is that we don’t want to obey anyone. We don’t want to obey God. We don’t want to obey our Daddy or Mommy. Our Mommy doesn’t want to obey her husband. Our Daddy doesn’t want to obey the elders of our church or the mayor of our city.
Jesus knows it’s hard for us to obey, so here He tells us that He obeys His Father. If we obey Jesus, we’ll live in love with Him the same way He and His Father live in love with each other.
Obedience and love go hand in hand.
Scripture: John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
QUESTIONS
- Is Jesus equal to His Father?
- Whom did Jesus say He obeyed?
- What allows us to abide in love with Jesus?
SONG OF THE WEEK
The Love of God
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen could ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
The erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race–
The saints’ and angels’ song.
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song. (x2)
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Dear Heavenly Father, I rejoice today in the obedience of Jesus Your Son, Whose righteous record of perfection You have graciously credited to my account through faith as if it were my own. Prevent me, Lord, from ever using my knowledge of Your kindness towards me as an excuse for sin. Instead, may Your Son’s righteous example inspire within me a sincere and holy desire to honor You with acts of obedience of my own, through the Holy Spirit Who mightily works within me. Amen.
SCRIPTURE MEMORY THIS WEEK
John 15:7-8 (KJV)
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
