“Excellence: Maintained Through Abiding”

May 13, 2011: The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 11: 19 – 30/Psalm 33: 1 - 8; 18 - 22 /1 John 4: 7 – 21/John 15: 9 - 17

Bishop Ricardo M. Alcaraz

We are grateful that you are not worshipping a dead God, but a God who has tasted death for us, has conquered it for us, and given us the benefits of this.  When we started with Easter Sunday, we heard about the Risen Lord.   We know that in rising from the dead, He has conquered the grave, death, and hell.  He has conquered the power of darkness that there is no evil strong enough because of our Lord.  We enjoy the benefits of this victory.

On the Second Sunday of Easter, we heard about His first words to His disciples as they were inside a room.  They were in fear because it seems that the whole world were against them.  It didn’t matter that the whole world were against them.  What mattered was the peace that Jesus Christ brought to them and that He said and He taught us that we are to believe despite the fact that we do not see.  We are to believe despite negative circumstances.  What matters is our Risen Lord is with us.

On the Third Sunday, we heard how that He has made us witnesses of His resurrection.  We are not just supposed to be a people who would enjoy the benefits of this, but we are to take the power of His resurrection and invade the darkness and bring forth the power of the Resurrection.

On the Fourth Sunday, we heard that He is our Good Shepherd. We are not being led by someone who has died and stayed dead.  We are being led by the Risen Lord.  He is our Good Shepherd.  He is very good in what He does.  He is good in who He is and He knows what we are doing.  He knows what He is doing thus we should follow Him.  It doesn’t matter if the wolves are there.  What matters is our Risen Shepherd is here.

On the Fifth Sunday, we found about the love of God, that we are to love Him back.  The way to love the Lord our God is not just to say, “I love you.”  What the Lord said for us to love Him, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.  You will keep My commandments.” He tells us how to respond to His love.  We are to keep what He has given unto us.   He said when we begin to keep His commandments, when we act and live out according to His word, He will manifest Himself to us.  He will make Himself real to us.  It is not just going to be something that we hear about.  It is not just going to be a story of someone that we hear about.  Their testimony can become our testimony.  It is not just something that we read in the Book of Acts.  We become a chapter of the Book of Acts that keeps on being written today.

We are enjoying the greatness of our God. We know the news of this conflict between us and this bigger country; of this threat that is hanging over our heads of these seeming things that is going on around us.  We wonder what we are going to do.   It doesn’t matter that the wolves are there.  Our Shepherd, our Risen Lord is with us - our security, our empowering.  It is not just survival that we are looking for. We thrive instead of survive even in the midst of circumstances.  It does not depend on the absence of conflicts, but in the presence of our Risen Lord.

The Lord shows to us today in the Sixth Sunday that we are not just to stare passively concerning what He has done for us, but rather we are to respond and to abide.  This is what the Spirit of the Lord wants to communicate to us: knowing that the Father has loved us, let us now abide in His love.

As we go through our gospel in John 15:9, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you.” This is a great assurance.  The Lord Jesus Christ is telling us that He is not loving us any less.  We see how much the Father responded to the life of the Jesus to His petitions.  We see the presence of the Father in the life of Jesus.  Jesus tells us that as the Father loved Him that is the way that He will love us also.  We know that and we heard the teaching of St. John.  This is the very nature of God.  If we are to abide in love, we are going to abide in God.  We are walking in this world but we are not walking in the limitations of the world. Yes, they are there, but as we begin to abide in love, He says, “You are walking now in God’s world.

You are abiding in God.  Even though this is an ordinary world, when we live in God’s level, we begin to walk in the extraordinary.   We begin to take hold of the resources of the Lord.  Things begin to happen in a way that defies our thinking, our logic, and our understanding.  We wonder how these things can be but because we abide in God, we abide the realm of the possible.

Jesus Christ said that with God, nothing is impossible.  You have to be with God.  Without God, then you begin to see the impossibilities have an effect in your lives.  When we abide in love, we abide in God.  We abide where impossibilities lose their hold on us. Jesus says, “As the Father loved Me, so I have loved you. Abide in My love.”   God has chosen us to love us but we must choose to abide in His love. What does it mean to abide in His love?  It means to remain there continuously. It is not just to say now, “I love you,” and do the things that you have learned to do now and then later on you forget.

I remember talking to someone who ministered to others.   He was kind of depressed and restless. He was complaining about what is going in his life.  He was looking for excuses to stay away from the ministry.  It wasn’t always like this.  Fifteen years ago, he was someone who loved to serve.  He was always someone who was looking for an excuse to do something for the Lord.  He was always someone who was looking to volunteer for something that needed to be done in the Church. It doesn’t matter if he had to work and lose much sleep.  He enjoyed doing things for God. He enjoyed praying for people.  He enjoyed sharing the things of the Word of God to other people.

If he had problems, he would tackle them through prayer. He would tackle them by applying the principles of his life.  As I talked to him as few years ago, his talk was different. No longer was I hearing from him, “This is for the Lord.  With the Lord’s help, I could do this.  With God’s grace, I can endure this.”  Rather he was talking about hard life is, how he wanted to do so many things but can’t do it.  He was talking about not getting any breaks.

I asked him, “Why don’t we pray about these things? Why don’t we go back to what it was like again?”  I was talking about certain things and I found out that there were certain things that he used to do before that he was not doing now.  I was talking about things that he learned in the Holy Scriptures before.  Ten or fifteen years ago, he was walking in the principles of God.

I don’t know what happened.  I don’t know when the change took place.  Now, he was relying on human ways.  He was giving half-hearted efforts on the things of God.  He was not praying as he did before.  He was not giving as he used to.  He was not trusting God as he did.  I said, “Why don’t we pray and take dominion over this situation?”  He looked at me and said, “How do I do that?”  This really floored me because, then, this was one guy who prayed authority over situations and now he is asking me how he is going to do that.  He started well, and for a while, he did well.  While he was doing what God told him to do, while he was applying the principles of God, he was seeing results.

After a while, I don’t know when and how he started acting on man’s ways or if he is doing something that the Holy Scriptures says and mixing it with other things. He said to me, “How do I do that?”  He used to do that before.  He used to know how before.  We had to go back to the basics.  I am glad to see that person is beginning to recover once again.  Jesus Christ said to us that, “Without Him, we can’t do nothing.”  We might want to try; we may have the heart. We may have the motivation; we might have the “can do” attitude.  We might have the skills and the talent, but without God, we cannot do anything.  We are nothing.

Jesus says, “I have loved you. Abide in My love.  It is My decision to love you.”   Now, it is your decision to abide in the love that He has given unto us. It is not just taking it for granted. It is not just saying, “God loves us and that is it. I don’t have to do anything.”  I wish that were true.  Last week we heard that if we love God, then we must obey Him. The one who obeys Him is that one who loves Him.  This is the proof of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our obedience. It is not the tears that comes from our eyes when we sing, “I love you Lord.”  There is nothing wrong with this, but if that is all we offer Him, it is not the proof that He is looking for.

We try to approach God on our terms. This is a mistake right here.  Instead of coming to God on our terms, we should come to God on His terms.  It is the proof that He is looking for.  It is our obedience.  Don’t try to substitute something else.  “Lord, maybe it is not obedience which I am not very good at, but accept the tears.”   We are trying to give Him something else that He is not looking for.  It doesn’t work.  We need to come to God on His terms.

Christ tells us, “I have loved you; now, you abide in My love.”  Abide has the idea of remaining there continuously.  It is not just staying there while it is being preached.  It is not just staying there while it is fashionable.  It is not just staying there while it is trending.  It is staying there forever.  It is not just staying while things are okay; but when things are no longer going smoothly, then you change.

In the Book of Acts, the disciples were worshipping in Jerusalem but there was a persecution that arose.  Thus, many of the Christians were scattered.  When they were scattered, did they stop doing what God told them to do?  They did not for while they were in the midst of persecution, while they were dispersed, they continued to preach the Word of the Lord.

Apparently, it did not matter that times were difficult for the disciples then.  What mattered was they were doing what God wanted them to do. They began to grow and Jerusalem sent an apostle to them to continue to teach them.  Sometimes, when things begin to become difficult, and many things are requiring our attention, we seem to develop a mentality that we really don’t have time for the things of God or this sermon or homily or this Mass because we just have so many things to do.  Understand that your hope is not outside the love of God.  You will not find hope outside the kingdom of God.  You can only find it in God.

The disciples continued despite the persecution. Even when the entire empire was against them, they outlived, outgrew, and out-survived.  Today, that empire is gone, but the Church is still here.  This is what it means to remain continuously.  It brings the idea of peace, of stability that comes with being at the home of a friend that is hospitable to you.  When you are in trouble or in panic, you’ve come to the home of your friend and he says, “Don’t worry, you are here now.  I will take care of this thing for you.”

This connotes the idea of peace and stability.  In a relationship, it brings out the idea of steadfast relationship that is characterized by a unity of heart, mind, and soul. It is a steadfast relationship because you are thinking as one.  How many times has the Primate taught us that we are to think God’s thoughts? We are to see ourselves the way God sees us.   We are love and we got to see ourselves that way. We got to act out this thing in our lives.  As we do so, we begin to understand. Sometimes we want to understand first, but God says, “Obey first, and then later on, understanding will come along.

Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.  It is having peace because you are staying with Him. It is having a steadfast relationship with someone because you are walking in one mind, one heart, and one soul with that person.  You are totally immersed in that person’s love.  It is like being comforted, surrounded, motivated, and empowered by the love of God.   You get your strength from there.

Last Sunday, God also brought the idea of the Paraclete. Throughout the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Spirit of God is described as “pneuma” or breath.  As the breath of God, He brings life to us.  As the breath of God, He animates us.  As the breath of God, He refreshes and revives us. Last Sunday too, God introduced another word for the Holy Spirit: “paracletos”.  The word paraclete means someone who is summoned.  He is someone to stand alongside to help you.  The Holy Spirit is not just the pneuma, the One who gives you life. He is not just the pneuma who revives and refreshes you.  The Holy Spirit is also Someone who will empower you.  Someone who would strengthen. Someone who would help you when you are in distress. He is summoned for this reason to come to our help; the One who stands beside you to help. He is not doing the work, but He is helping you do the work.

There was this story of a father who wanted to go boating with his boy.  Every time that they went boating, the father would be the one doing the rowing.  But then, in this particular day, he told his boy, “You go and sit at the front now and do the rowing.”  The boy was thinking, “But Dad, I am not as strong as you.  I don’t know if this boat is going to even move.” The Dad said, “Don’t worry, you will do well.”  The boy sat down in front and looked at his father who was smiling at him and the boy started paddling.

For a while, the boat was not moving.  The son did not want to let down his Dad so he started paddling.  To his delight, the boat started moving.  He still paddled some more. When he started paddling some more, they moved a little bit faster now.  Delighted, he looked back at his Dad and said, “Dad, look…!”  He stopped because he saw that his Dad was also paddling with him.  No wonder he was being empowered because his Dad was paddling right behind him. This is what the Paracletos will do for us.  As we obey the Lord, the strength of God comes to us.  The provision of God comes to us.

I was sent to Kalibo Church in 1987.  We were always in debt.  When I got there, I looked at the books and the highest income we could ever make was like PHP 8,000.  Our normal expenditures was PHP12, 000.  If you are making eight, and you’re spending twelve, there is no way you will be able to continue.  At the end of the month, there is a generous gracious member who would write a check and cover the amount that was missing.  When I saw that I said, “Lord, this can’t be. You said you will provide.  I am grateful for this sister but it is not bringing glory to You.”  So I investigated some more.  I talked to the one who was handling the finances.  I said, “Do we tithe? Do you, as a Church, tithe?”  She said, “Well, at one time, we did, but it wasn’t really working for us and so we stopped. We tried tithing once, and it is not working for us.   We need every centavo.  We need every peso and we still can’t make it.  We cannot stop.”  I said, “Look, I am the Pastor now.  How do you get to tithing again? At the end of the last Sunday of the month, whatever we collect, we try to get the tithe of the entire month.”

I already knew it was not going to work.  What was happening was that during the first few Sundays, once they get the money, they start spending it.  The expenses were legit.  At the last Sunday of the month, this is the time that they will try to come up with a total tithe of the entire month.  It won’t work because the income we were receiving on the last Sunday of the month was not enough to even raise up the tithe.  I told her, “From now on, every time the offering comes along, take out the tithe.  Put it in an envelope somewhere and put it in a ocked drawer and take it away from your mind.  This means that during the week and we come short, don’t think, ‘It is okay.  I still have the same tithe there so I will just get or borrow something.’  From now on, that is out of your mind.  That is considered given to God.”

The lady said, “We’ve tried that.  You don’t understand.  You just came in and money is kind of tight.”  I said, “Look, if you have a problem with that, we will just pray.  When we get the money, first thing we do is we get the Lord’s portion – the tenth; the tithe. We set it aside and we don’t even think of borrowing from that even if we need it. If we don’t have funds, we will come to God and we will ask Him for the funds.” She said, “How is that going to happen? Is money going to rain down on us?”  I said, “I am not really sure that is how God does things; but if He does this, I won’t mind. I wouldn’t mind having a flood from that.  I don’t know how He is going to do it, but this is how we are going to operate from now on.  This is the commandment of God.  Before I came here, this is what I learned.  Now that I am taking over here, and this is how we are going to practice this.”

We did that.  We had some difficulties and struggles along the way but eventually, we started income coming from unexpected places.  From there, we were able to come up with a TV Ministry; we were able to come out with a newsletter.  We were able to pay off our monthly expenses and we did not have to bother the good lady who kept on catching us every time we fell short.  We did not have to burden her anymore, and she is happy about it.

One time, a missionary came to our church. She asked, “Where do you get your foreign support?”  I said, “What do you mean?”  She said, “I am looking at what you are doing here and I am convinced that you would not have been able to do this if you were not receiving foreign funding.”   There is nothing wrong with that.  If someone would want to fund me from abroad, I am not going to turn it down.  She said, “You couldn’t do this if you were not receiving foreign funding.”  I said, “Every now and then, someone would send us foreign currency. Someone would visit us from abroad. Will that fit your description?” She said, “No, I am talking about a group of people living abroad who is giving a specific amount to your Church every month.”  I said, “We don’t have someone like that.”  She said, “You couldn’t do this if you don’t have that.”  I said, “Sister, I do not know what to tell you.  We don’t have that, but we are still doing this. When you believe and obey God, good things happen.  I am not talking about not having a test or trial anymore, but it is still going to be there.  You will find out that test and trials and negative circumstances cannot stop nor hinder the blessings of God in your life.”

One of our church members was going home at night and was riding a jeepney.  She was tired and was seating behind the jeepney driver. She was falling asleep until someone rode the jeepney and said, “This is going to be a hold-up!”  People gasped and shouted, “Oh, my God!”  She said, “Praise the Lord!”  She was just following what she was taught.  Scriptures says that in all things, give thanks to God.  When you fall into various trials, rejoice!  She did not feel joyful at the moment; she felt scared but instead she said, “Praise the Lord!”

This guy standing at the entrance of the jeep said, “Who said that?”  Everybody pointed at her.  She could have probably said, “I should not have said that.”  Sometimes we think, “I do what God says and it becomes worse.”  This guy with the knife said, “Did you say that?” She affirmatively nodded but couldn’t say anything.  The guy told her, “You, come here.”  She was really scared.  She got out of her seat and approached the rear of the jeep.  The guy said, “Get out!”  She got down and was scared to look back.  She did not know what was going to happen. She heard the guy say, “Okay driver, let us go!”  She was the only one delivered.  It is not a formula if there is a stick-up but it is something that you believe in.

The lady abided in God’s love and she experienced that.  Someone would say, “How are you going to explain that?”  I would not even try to explain it. All I know that is when you do things God’s way, He shows up.  He is always there.  Scriptures says, “He who loves Me, he is the one who would obey Me; and I, My Father, will manifest ourselves to Him.”  This is one of the differences why some people are still reading about the promises while others are experiencing and living out the promises of God.

The Lord says, “Abide in My love.”  “Okay Lord, I am convinced.  How do I remain in Your love?”  This same way that we are to prove our love for Him?   He says, “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.” The Lord is saying, “I am not telling you to do something different. I am not saying to you that what I did is different and you cannot do it.  This is Me. You have to do something else.”  He said, “What I have always done, that is what I am asking you to do. The Father loved me, I remain in His love.  How did I do that?  I kept His commandments.”

Scriptures says, “I did not come down to do My own will, but to do the will of My Father. The words you hear from Me, these are the words that I heard from Him. The works that you see Me do, these are the works that I receive from Him.”   He is not trying to make it on His own.  He is not trying to say, “I am going to make a name for Myself.  Let us go to the Father.  He is good in all of that.  I am not One to stay in His shadow.  I am going to make a name for Myself.”  Jesus says, “What He wants Me to do, that is what I am going to do.  This is how I stayed in His love.  I am telling you the same thing.  Abide in My love. How are you going to abide in My love?  I told you that the way for you to prove your love is to obey Me.  The way for you to abide in My love is do the same thing: keep My commandments.”

It doesn’t mean to keep and put it inside your drawer and stick it in there and never to look at it forever.   The word keep is that you start doing it and you make a decision that you will continue to do it for the rest of your life.  We know the commandments of the Lord.  In the book of John, there are commandments that he specifically mentions.  In John 13:14-15, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” We are to serve each other.  We are to help each other.  We are to help meet each other’s needs.

John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  The original commandment is, “Love one another as you love yourself.”   You are now to love each other not according to how you love yourself, but you are now to love each other according to how God has loved you.  There is the new standard. The old standard is how you love yourself.   The new standard now is: how God loves you.  This is how you are going to love each other. “Love each other as He loved us.”

In John 14:1, “Let not your heart not be troubled.  If you believe in God, believe also in Me.”  In a time of troubles and in a time of testing and trials, have faith in God.   Just believe in God.  Trust in God.  All of these commandments: wash each other’s feet; love each other as I have loved you; believe in Me and let not your heart be troubled – they are open-ended commandment.  How do you know if you have accomplished them?  At least in the other commandment that says, “Thou shall not steal,” it is when you have taken something that is not yours.  You know that you have done it. “Thou shall not lie” is when you say something that is not true and you know why you have done it.  If it is something painful to you and after something that you did not think about and included the name of the Lord, you know you violated one of the commandments that you shall not take the Lord your God in vain.

These are open-ended commandments.  How do you know that you have done them?  It is like Peter asking the Lord, “How do I really know that I have done your principle in forgiveness?  If I forgive them seven times is that okay? Would I have passed the standard?  Did I make the grade?  The Lord says, “No, add zero to something there.” Just keep on doing this.  There will come to a point where you would say, “I have loved each other enough.  I have served the others enough. I have faith in God enough. This is it!  I met the requirements. I am not ever going to do it again.” These are open-ended commandments.  These commandments must govern our lives.  He said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.  If there is anything that we want, it is to abide in the love of God.  “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends.  To live in the love of God is to live for others.  We are living in a generation where we are always asking, “What is good for me?"

I just ended a counseling session of a couple who wanted to get married.  I asked the couple, “Why do you want to marry him/her?”  The man said, “When I am with her, this is how I am.  I feel and she does these things for me.”  The lady said, “I feel complete when he is there.”  I asked, “Do you know what each other will do for you? Now, what are you going to bring into the relationship? One talks about receiving from his/her potential partner.  But what are you putting in?  What are you putting in that which will make the person’s life better?  You already told me that your life is better because you are marrying that person.  Now, what are you putting into that relationship that will make that person’s life better?”   They started thinking.  It is probably something that is not easy to think about. It is like people thinking, “This is good for me.  I am going to do this because it is going to bless me.  I am going to attend this because it is going to bless me.”  I am not against us receiving the blessings of the God Almighty, but we need to understand the greater love does not just think of oneself but thinks of others also.  Jesus Christ thought of us and did not hold on to what He had.

Verse 14, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” We know the song, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”   Is Jesus Christ a good friend?  Are we a friend to Him?  Jesus Christ tells us, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”  Friendship is not a license to take God for granted. Friendship is not a license to say, “I don’t have to do that to our friend.” Friendship with God does not mean others are required to do other things while you are not because you are friends. You enjoy immunity privileges.  Jesus Christ said, “You are My friends

if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants for the servant does not know what his master is doing but I call you friends for all things that I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you.”

Those with us with a slave mentality don’t really know what he is doing.  He is just following orders.  He doesn’t care, but a friend does what he asks them to do because he chooses to do that.  He gets to share in the plan behind that.  During those particular times, there are group of people that are called friends of the king or the emperor. They had privileges with the king or the emperor but sometimes first thing in the morning, they have a right to enter into the king’s bed chamber.  They have the right to enter into the emperor’s bedroom and the king or the emperor would talk to them first.  They would consult with them first.  He would talk to his friends that he trusted first before he would talk to his generals and other rulers and other statesmen.

Jesus Christ is saying to us, “You are no longer servants; you are My friends.”  We can trust Him as our friend. Can He trust us as His friend?  How do we find out that we are good friends with Jesus?  It is when He do what He says.  What He says is not burdensome. It is easy to yield, to surrender, to trust, to do the will of someone who loves us. He already showed us He loves us.

Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear much fruit.”  During those times, students, seekers, and people who wanted to learn, were the ones who sought out the rabbis.  In my college days, we would try to get in college first thing in the morning because you want to get the class with the teacher you like.  The moment that class is filled up, even though you want to be there, you have to choose something else.  Students, seekers choose out their rabbis.  They presented themselves.  “We would like to be taught and mentored by you.  We consider it a privilege to be taught and mentored by you.”  The rabbis, depending on the personality they had, normally would choose the best and the brightest.  Jesus Christ said, “You did not choose Me. I chose you.”  You did not look for Me.  I looked for you.”

The rabbis chose the best and the brightest.  If you look at the apostles, Jesus Christ said to them, “How long will I have to stay with you?”  They were not the quickest learners in the world.  The lesson here for us is that we might not be the best and the brightest but the Lord has chosen us anyway. If we rely on Him, the help He gives to us eventually enable us to accomplish those things normally we could not have accomplished.  Jesus says to us, “You should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.  Whatever you ask the Father in My name, I will give to you.”  It is not the name of the dead king. It is the name of the Risen Lord.  The reason why it is a powerful name is because He is alive today.

One of our members in Kalibo was offered an increase in position and corresponding benefits if she would take the training on another island in Bacolod. For her to do what she needed to do, she had to wake up at two o’clock in the morning and wait for a bus.  She will go to a certain point and take a ferry that goes to Bacolod. She would study and sometimes during the week, she comes back again.

She was relaying to my wife how that one morning that she was the only one there at two o’clock in the morning.  She said to herself, “It is kind of lonely. I am the only one and I am waiting for the bus.”  She saw an elderly lady coming to her and said, “Good, I am going to have company. I can talk to her.”  While she was looking at her, she had long hair and was elderly.  She came four to five feet to her, and she was thinking, “I am going to greet her to break the ice.”  She said that all of the lady’s hair was just standing upright.  She forgot the kind of greeting she wanted to give that woman.  She had instant panic!

While she was in this state of fear, she noticed of the house of a brother across the street. The woman was moving slowly.  She wasn’t going to wait so she runs across the road and goes to her brother’s house and starts banging at the door at two o’clock in the morning. She says, “Kuya, may aswang! (Kuya, there is a witch!)”  There was no response from her brother.   She turns back and this woman was now crossing the road. She remembered the teaching about the name of Christ.  She said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are not going to cross this line.  You stay there.”  She was told, “Why did you not just tell her to go back where she came from?”  She said, “I couldn’t think of anything else to say.”  She said that the woman was attempting to step across the line and every time she would put her foot on the line, she would be pushed back.  The elderly lady couldn’t pass the line.

Finally, our member sees the bus coming along and she ran and went inside and said to the conductor, “Close it and don’t let the elderly woman come in.  She is a witch!”  She said, “I am so grateful for teachings. I don’t know what would have happen to me. I am so grateful for the name of Jesus!”  She did not accept the job promotion anymore.  She just stayed where she was and she said that she was going to stay and believe in God for something else and something better.

“These things I command you that you love one another.”  I was reading an exposition where according to tradition, when St. John was already very old, people would carry him into the service just to encourage the people who were there.  Everytime they would say to him, “Would you like to give an admonition or say something to the people?”  He would just say, “Little children, love one another.”  One time, the people carrying St. John said, “That is what we would always hear. There is nothing wrong with that but can you say something else or something different?”  St. John said, “This is the will of the Lord.  If you do this, this is sufficient.”  He kept quiet again.  There is no other message but to love one another.

We have learned that the love of God is with us.  We want to walk in this love.  We want to walk in the power of this love.  We need to abide in this, not stray away, not to forget, but to remain there.  It takes a choice from us. Let us abide in the love of God.  Let us remain true to our God.  Let us stay there and when we do, we are good friends of Christ and we will bear much fruit in our lives.