Thought 14 July

John 15:10 Contemporary English Version 10 If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him. Today’s reading features some of the words that Jesus used when he was telling his disciples he was the true vine and that his heavenly father is like the gardener who removes any of the branches that do not produce fruit.  It seems to have a relatively simple meaning i.e. if we wish to be loved by Jesus, we have to do what he has taught us and live as he has taught us to live just as he lived his life as taught to him by God. I don’t know about you but when I read certain passages of the bible and the faults of sinners are being pointed out, I sometimes think; ‘that’s me he’s talking about’.  If we don’t experience the word of God in this manner, are we really being true to ourselves?  The teachings of Jesus can be as personal these days just as they were over two thousand years ago and no one can tell me otherwise. If we live in the hope that Jesus loves us or abides in us or remains in us as the various translations of this verse describes, we in turn must love, abide and remain in him.  I guess the first thing any of us wants to think is that we do indeed love our Lord who loved us so much that he died carrying the weight of our sins with him on that cross at Calvary.  Maybe the next thing we should be thinking should be; ‘is it obvious to others by the ways we live, the things we say and the things we do that this is indeed the case?’.  If the answer to this second question for each and every one of us is not an emphatic yes, maybe we have some work to do. As the great hymn of Isaac Watt tells us: ‘I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend His cause; Maintain the honour of His word, The glory of Hiof cross. Prayer Our Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for the warm glow of sunshine on our skin that we are feeling just now, a feeling that we don’t experience in this beautiful small country of ours as often as some do in other parts of this wonderful world that you have created.  Help us learn to be grateful to you each day no matter the season and no matter the weather and help us to be more inclined to give thanks rather than complain and help us be more inclined to assist and befriend others rather than criticise and judge them.  Lord help us to obey you, remain in you and abide in you.   Amen