06.26.07

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. - John 15:9-15 NKJV.

We now have reason to believe that Bobby Cutts, Jr. killed his pregnant girlfriend, Jessie Davis, along with the unborn baby. Cutts is being held on a five million dollar bond. Prior to his arrest, Cutts was working as a police officer, but he has now been suspended without pay. Sadly, Cutts’ situation is not the only one where someone has appeared to be living a normal life with honorable employment, but then like Cutts commits a horrendous crime. In fact, it appears that it is occurring at a more frequent rate than ever before, almost a new one every week that is hitting the national and international news.

Have you ever wondered if you were capable of doing some terrible thing? The truth is that every person is capable of doing evil. We are told in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way….” In Romans 3:23, we read, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I know that it is only the restraining power of God that has kept me from doing some terrible thing.

None of us wants to bring embarrassment to our friends, family, or community. None of us wants to intentionally hurt someone else. But the truth is that life changing and life devastating decisions are often made in the whim of an instant. The decisions of an instant have ruined many a life. I pray most every day that God will keep me from being a fool, and that He will give me the wisdom to make the right decisions.

There is, however, one thing that will keep you from doing some terrible thing, and at the same time propel you forward to your highest potential in life. That one thing is to be a friend of Jesus. Jesus says in John 15:15, “...I call you not servants...but I have called you friends.”

I know why I am not in prison today for doing some terrible thing. It is because I have a friend, and that friend’s name is Jesus. If we know Jesus as our personal Savior He is our friend. Jesus says, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” But even on the basis that we maintain human friendships could Jesus call you His friend? If not it is time, past time, to take time to talk to your friend Jesus, and renew this most vital of all friendships.