12 This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 -John 15:12-17 In John 15, Jesus is giving His final words of encouragement and instruction to His friends before He goes to the cross to lay down His life for His friends. Who are His friends? You…

This week’s name, Friend, is a 180-degree turn from last week–Lord. He is – Lord of All. ALL. Every knee WILL bow, and every tongue WILL confess it. But the Lord of All Creation is not some overbearing tyrant. He calls us “Friend.” Isaiah tells us Abraham was God’s friend. But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend – Isaiah 41:8 That’s not all. God visited Abraham and Sarah, sharing a meal with them. I think we can infer from Genesis 18 that it happened more than once. He wrestled with Jacob. He sought out Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day. He…

 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10:9 I grew up in a faith tradition that taught you could never be sure of your salvation. We did our best to follow the rules. When we messed up, we did what we could to make things right, and we hoped for the best. We believed no one got a free pass to heaven. Even if you lived a really good life, you’d have things you needed to set right when you die. So you’d go to a heavenly penitentiary for a…

For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:9-11 In Praying the Names of God in 52 Weeks, Ann Spangler notes that Christianity’s earliest confession is profound in its simplicity. Just three powerful words: Jesus is Lord. In Greek, it’s only two. Iesous Kyrios. (The present tense “is” is understood making Jesus Lord a complete thought.) You can’t get simpler than that!…

What’s in a name? I brought home a kitten last week, and the kids named him Leon Trotsky. “Why name him after a Communist who was murdered by a Russian dictator?” you ask. Well, we have a Babka, so it fits with the Russian theme. And the way the little guy trots is so cute. Bonus – it lends itself to all sorts of nicknames. How about Tater Trot? I think I’ll be calling him Leo – lion in Latin. What are lions like? Fierce, to be sure. Fearless. Protective of their own. Ruthless when the situation calls for it. A frightening enemy, but affectionate if you’re in fellowship with…