John 15: 9 – 15 (MSG) “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love. I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature.
“Sheri, I have loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourself at home in my love.”
Jesus continued, “If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love.”
He wants me to remain “intimately at home in his love” because he has remained intimately at home in the Father’s love by keeping his commands. He tells me “these things” (v.11) so that I (actually all of us) may have joy.
Joy
Think about that. This doesn’t sound to me like he wants to bully me (or all of us) into keeping a bunch of rules that are out dated or are no longer relevant in today’s society. He wants to protect me from the pain and scars of this broken world. God sent Jesus into the world so that through him I (we) “can have real and eternal life, better than I (we) can ever dream of.” (The Message John 10:10)
I can see myself being “at home” with Christ. In this picture I feel loved, safe, at peace, and I can talk freely without reservation. After conversations with people I all too often try to analyze (over-analyze actually) everything by interviewing myself with questions like: “Did I say that the right way?” “Did I sound stupid?” “Is he/she going to look at me differently because of what just came out of my mouth?”
Believe me, all of these questions have run through my head. But in this picture with Christ, I can see myself bringing him the broken pieces of my life and trusting him for restoration. I am without reserve because I am “intimately at home in his love” and it is the best feeling in the world.
Can you picture yourself intimately at home in the love of Christ?