Today's Passage - John 15:13-15

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english John 15:13-15   Greater love has no one than this: 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 servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.    God actually called us His friends - What a precious thing that is!  What's the difference between friends and servants?  First of all, servants do not know the will of the master.  They simply follow the direction from the master, but may not understand why they need to do those things.  That is the condition of many Christians - We follow the Lord's commandments, but don't understand why we need to follow them.  The Lord said we need to love our enemies, so we try hard to do so but still can't love them; the Lord said we need to tithe, we reluctantly struggle to do it, and we wonder whether we're expected to offer one tenth before or after tax.  This means we feel that we ought to follow our Lord, but we don't do it willingly and happily.  That's exactly the attitude of servants - We're just doing what we should do.   It's totally different when it comes to friends.  Friends know the master's will; they can communicate how they feel and share each other's burden.  They care and support one another and they talk heart to heart.  That's why God wants us to enter into an inner room with Him - It's for us to communicate with Him intimately inside the room.  God is eager to be our friend; He doesn't just want us to do the work in the outside, but He wants to reveal His will to us, and He wants us to tell Him what's on our mind, just like close friends would!   Brothers and sisters, are you spending time to be close to God?  We are often busy serving God, but we forget to sit down with God to enjoy a feast; rather, we are like servants of a master, just busy with preparing a feast for the master to enjoy.  Actually, our master is eager to have us sit down and have a feast with Him, to enjoy the good food together.  This is something that many Christians never think about - WE don't understand that the Lord actually just want us to enjoy a feast and all the great food on table with Him.  It doesn't mean all the things on the outside are not important, for we ought to do what we need to do; however, we need to learn to sit down and be close to our God and to enjoy all the abundant grace that He has prepared for us!                                   Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please come and draw us near, let us not be burdened with all the things on the outside, but help us be willing to spend time to enjoy your present.  May you give us an eager heart and let us experience your abundance and grace each and every day.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!