10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
Read all of 1 John 4 NIVWe do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Read all of 2 Corinthians 1 NIV"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" -- which means, "God with us."
Read all of Matthew 1 NIVDear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
Read all of 1 Peter 4 NIVDo you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Read all of Isaiah 40 NIVTherefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Read all of Isaiah 7 NIVI went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.
Read all of Proverbs 24 NIV
Commentary on Today's Verse
Commentary on John 15:9-17
(Read John 15:9-17)
Those whom God loves as a Father, may despise the hatred of all the world. As the Father loved Christ, who was most worthy, so he loved his disciples, who were unworthy. All that love the Saviour should continue in their love to him, and take all occasions to show it. The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. They are to show their love to him by keeping his commandments. If the same power that first shed abroad the love of Christ's in our hearts, did not keep us in that love, we should not long abide in it. Christ's love to us should direct us to love each other. He speaks as about to give many things in charge, yet names this only; it includes many duties.