DAILY TEXT, Today's Sunday September 4, 2022, I call you friends, because I have told you all the things I have heard my Father say (John 15:15).

DAILY TEXT, Today's Sunday, September 4, 2022

Let's Examine the Scriptures Every Day 2022

Sunday September 4, 2022

I call you friends, because I have told you all the things I have heard my Father say (John 15:15).

The Bible clearly teaches us that we must love Jesus if we want to please Jehovah. One thing we can do to be friends with Jesus is to know him. To do this, let's read the biblical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. As we reflect on these stories about the life of Jesus and see that he treated people with kindness, we will feel love and respect for him. For example, he did not treat his disciples as if they were slaves, even though he was their Master. Rather, he treated them like friends and revealed his deepest thoughts and feelings to them. He felt their pain and wept with them (John 11:32-36). Even his enemies realized that he was a friend to those who accepted his message (Matt. 11:19). If we treat others as he treated his disciples, we will get along with them better, be happier, and love and respect Christ even more. w20.04 22 paras. 9, 10

Why else should we be friends with Jesus?

We must be friends of Jesus for our prayers to be answered. This means that it is not enough to mechanically say “in the name of Jesus” when we finish praying. We must understand how Jehovah uses Jesus to answer our prayers. Jesus told his apostles, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13). Jehovah is the one who hears and answers our prayers, but he has given his Son the authority to carry out what he decides (Matt. 28:18). Before answering us, he looks at whether we have obeyed the advice of Jesus. For example, he said: “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others your trespasses, your Father will not forgive your trespasses either.”​—Matt. 6:14, 15. Isn't it important to show others the same kindness that Jehovah and Jesus show us?

What must we do to benefit from Jesus' rescue?

Only those who are good friends of Jesus will fully benefit from the ransom. How do we know? Jesus said that he would give “his life for his friends” (John 15:13). God's faithful servants who lived before Jesus came to earth will have to learn from him and come to love him. Righteous men and women like Abraham, Sarah, Moses or Rahab will live again, but even they will have to become friends with Jesus to receive eternal life (John 17:3; Acts 24:15; Heb. 11:8-12, 24-26, 31).

All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2020 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania JW.ORG.