How You Can Remain In Jesus' Love (J60)

To remain in His love, keep this command:
Love one another, as He has loved you!
Spread the news of Jesus over the land;
Let the world see joy in the life that’s new!
Greater love has none shown, than Jesus showed,
In laying down His life, that you may live;
Your debt for sin was so heavy a load
That no life but His was enough to give!
Jesus chose you, before there was a “you”,
And He desires you to go and bear fruit;
That’s what He wants all believers to do:
To scour the world, lost souls to recruit!
Win them, not by power, and not by might,
But by His Spirit*— your love, and His light!

*Zechariah 4:6

Scripture Quoted: John 15:9-12 (NIV)
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is that you love each other as I have loved you.’ “

Commentary on: John 15:9-17 (NIV)
Finally, we have reached the answer to the question in the headings of all 548 of my blogs: How do you remain in Jesus’ love? The answer is given in the Scripture quoted above in the words of Jesus. He said, “obey my commands and you will remain in my love”. Of course, He gave many commands, and I don’t suppose any believer ever kept them all. However, He emphasized “Love one another” so much, that if you do this, I am sure you will remain in the love of Jesus. It means that if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, you have become one of billions of people who have done the same thing, and you are commanded to love each of them. He is speaking to His apostles, but He meant it for all Christians throughout history. We can show our love by helping one another, not repeating or listening to malicious gossip, not participating in scraps and quarrels among members of the church, not being self-seeking or prideful, not launching lawsuits against other Christians, supporting each other in times of trouble, being cooperative, etc. In Galatians 5 are listed the “fruits” of the Holy Spirit—that is, the attributes of a “born again” Christian——love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self control. We can learn to practice these traits toward all people, and especially with other Christians.

During the first century after Jesus was crucified, millions of people became believers, despite vicious persecution by the Romans. During no other time period were more souls added to the church. The reason was Christians loved each other, and lost people outside the church observed their love, joy, and happiness despite the vicious opposition; they wanted to become a part of the Kingdom of God. Today it is not like that; in fact within churches there is so much antagonism and internal strife, that the effect is to turn lost people away from becoming members. Christians do not cease sinning when they accept Jesus Christ; their lives don’t seem to be any different than those of people outside the church. This fact is an obstacle to winning people to Christ. We will all face judgment by Jesus Christ some day. We Christians will stand before Him one at a time, and every action we ever engaged in will be known and exposed by Him. That will not be very pleasant. At least, though, we will have eternal life in heaven; if you do not accept Him as your Lord while you live, you will face Him, too, but it will be far more dreadful for you.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)