Seeing the Face of Christ in Our Workplace--Monday, March 26

John 15:12-17

¹²This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Jesus's command to love one another seems quite easy in some areas of our lives.  When we married, we committed to loving one another for as long as we lived.  We had fallen so in love that we couldn't imagine living without one another's love.  As for loving our families, we learned long ago to love them through the example they showed as parents.  Regarding our church family and friends, it has been easy to love them as it is the purpose of church community and friends.  Love seems quite easy when we get to choose whom we love and and to whom we dedicate our energies.  

As Jesus shares in this passage, He chose us.  Just as He chose us, so He also chooses those whom He wants us to love, asking us to share our skills and knowledge to bear better fruit for God.  It seems a great deal of the people Jesus chooses for us to love are in our place of work.  There are days when we both come home exhausted by our responsibilities  wondering whether we are doing enough to live out God's will in our lives.  This passage says that Jesus has shared with us everything that he heard from the Father.  So Jesus has given us all the tools we need to do His will, it is just up to us to learn from the Word and to put the Word to work in our everyday lives.    

Fer and Emily Guerra

For reflection:
When have you found it difficult to “love” someone in your workplace…and why?

What does it mean to you to be a “friend” of Jesus?

What tools has God given you to follow God’s will…and how effectively do you use those tools?