The Power of Relationship
John 15:15
God chose to create you, and He went to amazing lengths to save you from your sins. He asked you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son and promised to engineer all circumstances to your good. (Romans 8:28) Why would He do so much? The answer is simple. God desires to have a personal relationship with every single one of us. The tragedy is that many people live their entire life never realizing that God genuinely loves them.
In the 13th through 16th chapters of John, we see several of the Lord’s most intimate moments with His disciples. Christians sometimes think of Jesus only as the Great Intercessor seated at the right hand of God. But He also wants to be our closest friend, who encourages and guides us. God created us for intimacy. He does not need us; He wants us. No matter how many people in the world love us, we will feel incomplete if we do not recognize God’s love.
The only thing that stands between us and God is our sin, from which we are helpless to save ourselves. So our Father made a provision – He sent His Son Jesus, who was fully divine, to take on human form and die on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. God did not accept us in spite of our sin or by ignoring our transgression; instead, He removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) Then He went even further and invited us to be His friend. As the hymn writer exclaimed, “Amazing love! How can it be!”
Daily Devotions with Dr. Charles Stanlley, InTouch Ministries