“‘人为朋友舍命，人的爱心没有比这个大的。’” - 约 15:13

一位敬老院的住客接受临终护理，已有8个月了 － 这比人们预期她能维持下去的时间要长得多。她的家人感受到两难之间的张力，尽管不舍得她离世，他们仍然祈求这个时刻快些到来。

我有幸能够时常去探望她。她不一定会留意到我已在房间里，然而，当我坐下和轻触她的手臂时，她便会睁开眼睛，她的面部表情显示她明白一切。

她非常虚弱，说话时只能发出有气无力的微声。我知道她向来擅长唱歌，便问她有没有一首最喜爱的诗歌。我耐心地聆听她的回答，终于如愿以偿听到她微弱沙哑的声音：“耶稣基督是我一切。”我犹豫不决地开始跟着她唱，她带领我唱完整整第一节：

“耶稣基督是我一切，／生命喜乐珍宝，／是我每日生活力量，／离祂我必跌倒，／当我愁苦，来就耶稣，／无人像祂如此安抚，／使我欢欣，解我心忧；／祂是我友。”

当我离开她的房间时，我的眼睛充满了感恩的泪水。我的心在说：“没有什么比这样面对死亡更好的 － 知道我们有一位那么宝贵的朋友。”

耶稣是她的朋友，祂如此爱她，甚至为她舍弃自己的生命！她如何在爱中回应呢？“我知道：我爱耶稣，祂是我亲爱的朋友。”

你也知道这个事实吗？

祷告

耶稣啊，感谢你，你是我们的朋友、是我们的一切。阿们。

约翰福音 15:9-17

9“我爱你们，正如父爱我一样，你们要常在我的爱里。
10你们若遵守我的命令，就常在我的爱里，正如我遵守了我父的命令，常在他的爱里。
11这些事我已经对你们说了，是要叫我的喜乐存在你们心里，并叫你们的喜乐可以满足。
12你们要彼此相爱，像我爱你们一样，这就是我的命令。
13人为朋友舍命，人的爱心没有比这个大的。
14你们若遵行我所吩咐的，就是我的朋友了。
15以后我不再称你们为仆人，因仆人不知道主人所做的事。我乃称你们为朋友，因我从父所听见的，已经都告诉你们了。
16不是你们拣选了我，是我拣选了你们，并且分派你们去结果子，叫你们的果子常存，使你们奉我的名无论向父求什么，他就赐给你们。
17我这样吩咐你们，是要叫你们彼此相爱。

Faith—He's My Friend

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for his friends." - John 15:13

For eight months a resident of the nursing home was in hospice care—far longer than she was expected to last. Her family felt the uneasy tension of praying that the end they didn't want to come would come soon.

It was my privilege to visit her often. She wouldn't always ­notice that I had come into the room, but as I sat with her and gently touched her arm, she would open her eyes, and her face would take on a knowing look.

She was very weak, and when she spoke, it was a feeble whisper. I knew she had been a singer, so I asked if she had a favorite song. It took some patient listening, but I was rewarded by a thin voice rasping, "Jesus Is All the World to Me." I tentatively began to sing along. She led me through the whole first stanza:

"Jesus is all the world to me,/ my life, my joy, my all;/ he is my strength from day to day,/ without him I would fall./ When I am sad, to him I go,/ no other one can cheer me so;/ when I am sad, he makes me glad;/ he's my Friend."

As I left her room, grateful tears filled my eyes. My heart said, "That's the way to be nearing death—knowing, having such a friend."

Jesus, her friend, loved her—enough to lay down his life for her! Her loving response? "I know this: I love my dear friend, Jesus."

Do you know this too?

Prayer

Thank you, Jesus, for being the friend who is all the world to us. We love you. Amen.