Extraordinary Love Leads to Extraordinary Joy

In John 15:9-13, Jesus says the following to His disciples and to us: "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (NIV)  While on the surface it might seem otherwise, in these few brief sentences Jesus declares both the command and the promise, that extraordinary love will lead to extraordinary joy.  Paul writes in Romans 13 that love for one another is the fulfillment of the law and then in 1 Corinthians 13, He describes what this type of love looks like.  Jesus personified God's love.  Because of the joy set before Him, He endured the cross to make us His own.  There has never been a greater demonstration of love than this...