Some today would have us believe that love and authority don’t mix. Jesus has the same love for us that the Father has. But Jesus recognized that a command was in order. The command? Love.

Read this brief passage in John 15:

I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 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 15:9-17John 15:9-17
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
9 I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. ¹⁰ If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him. ¹¹ I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am. ¹² . Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you. ¹³ The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them. ¹⁴ And you are my friends, if you obey me. ¹⁵ Servants don't know what their master is doing, and so I don't speak to you as my servants. I speak to you as my friends, and I have told you everything that my Father has told me. ¹⁶ You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name. v in my name: Or “because you are my followers.” ¹⁷ So I command you to love each other.

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Which metaphor best describes the way you usually think about your relationship with God the Father? Child? Servant? Friend? Is this the same role you think of when you consider your relationship with Jesus?

How has Jesus demonstrated obedience and love for us?