Opa's Scripture 2/8/09

"In the Bible there are many names or designations for Jesus such as, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Beginning and the End, The Master, the Bread of Life and many more. They are all mostly about his atonement and help us to understand what his sacrifice means for us. However, the Gospel of John is unique because Jesus uses a special designation not found in the other Gospels. It takes place the night before the crucifixion where the Savior meets with the apostles and tells them to love each other and pray for each other like we do for each other in our families. It is here in John 15: verses 12 through 14 that he tells them: 'This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.' He is telling the Apostles (and us) that he is our friend and will shortly lay down his life for us. We can show him we are his friend if we are obedient to him. I remember how important it was for me as a teenager to have certain friends and for them I would have done many things but not always the right things. With Jesus he never asks me to do the wrong thing like be mean, or take something from someone else because I am bigger, or say bad things about them to hurt them, and good friends would never ask us to do these things either. So make good friends and always try to do the right things and then others will know that we love the Savior and they will respect us for that and want to be our friend and also a friend to Jesus. I love you guys. Take care. Opa"