Daily Devotional

Remaining in Christ intimately connects us with Christ, so that we not only draw life and strength from Him, but we also come to know His heart and mind.
When we remain in Christ, we keep His commandments. Jesus is very clear on this matter. Jesus never acted independent of the Father. He spoke only what the Father gave Him to speak. Similarly, we must not seek to operate independent of Christ.
When we abide in Christ, we have great joy. Joy for the Christian is very different than any joy we can know of ourselves. Our joy is really His joy. As we abide in Him and He in us, we experience great joy from those things that bring Him joy, as we would also be grieved by what grieves Him.
When we abide in Christ, we are His friends. Jesus tells His disciples that He no longer calls them slaves, but rather friends. Jesus speaks of a change that is about to take place in His relationship with His disciples. A slave is expected to do what his master instructs him to do, whether or not he likes it, and whether or not he understands why he is commanded to do it.
A “friend” is one with whom we share our thinking, goals, motivations and reasons for doing things. The disciples were simply not able to understand any of these things, even though our Lord communicated many of them to His disciples. But now, with the coming of the Holy Spirit and their remaining in Him, He could openly disclose His plans and purposes, so that they knew not only what He was seeking to do, but how and why He was doing it.

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