What is in a name?

Depending on who is giving the name, there is a whole bunch in a name indeed!

The first names were given by God himself.  God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” That's some pretty powerful name calling!  God then shared the naming role with Adam, inviting him to name the animals. 

God's delegated authority was given to Adam. And when Adam named the animals, "whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name."

What name does God give you? 

John 15:15

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ 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.

He calls you "friend".  What a great name! 

From slave, to friend.  But it doesn't even end there.  In Ephesians 5:25-27, he even calls us his bride. What a love! What a God!

He is divine, you are de branch

John 15:5 NASB

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

I was reminded of a Keith Green song as I read this :

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Home is where the heart is

Where are you most at home? Where is that place that just fits, that you know is just right? Even when physically away, your thoughts and your heart return to home. It is the place your heart and thoughts abide.

John 15:9-10 NASB

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

Reading the verse above, what is the most recent commandment that Jesus could be referring to in verse 10? It is right there in verse 9. He commands us to abide in his love.  He calls and invites us to make his love our home.

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Getting Personal

I was just reading John 15 in the NIV instead of the NASB that I usually read.  I noticed an interesting wording difference.  Instead of saying "If any anyone..." like is says in NASB, it says "If you..."  Ultimately, if you are anyone, it still applies to you, regardless of the wording.  But it is a good thing when God taps you on the shoulder and says, "I'm talking to you."

You may have heard the suggestion of doing this with John 3:16, the most quoted verse of all Scripture.  Rather than saying, "For God so loved the world", put your name in there.  "For God so loved Mark"

Who your enemies are says much

John 15:18-19 NASB

"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

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Great Love, Great Friend

What value would you place on a good friend? A friend is a priceless treasure.

There are two phrases about friendship with God that appear in adjacient verses in John 15.

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.

Friendship with Jesus involves great love.  He laid down his life freely.  But there is another slant to this also. He calls us to lay down our lives too.  Great love is seen in both verses. Obedience involves laying down our lives. It is laying down our self-will, preferring God's will over our own.

What a friend we have in Jesus.  Jesus, may I be your friend too.

God's equation

John 15:9 NASB

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

In algebra class I remember my teacher talking about the left and right sides of the equation. The two sides balanced. God's equation has his love for you on one side, and his love for Jesus on the other side. The value on both sides of the equation are equal. You are loved with an amazing love.

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