'So have I loved you.'
'As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.'
Is there a richer, more securing, and yet more undeserving statement in the entire bible than these words of Jesus to his disciples, recorded in John15.9?
John 17.23 only strengthens the point. Jesus speaking to the Father about his disciples, '....you have loved them even as you have loved me. v26 '...the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.'
Are we getting this? Jesus confirms that he loves us in the same way that he has been loved by his Father. That the Father has loved us in the same way that he has loved his son Jesus. That the love the Father has for him can be in us too - indeed, Jesus himself, the personification of that love, will be in us. These are staggering truths to meditate on!
The depth and the richness of the Father’s eternal perfect love towards his Son: This same, eternal, relentless love, has been turned towards us, shared with us, poured into our hearts, carried to us by Jesus himself who reveals this love.
And us, so undeserving, so unworthy to receive unconditional love. We the fakes and wannabes. We the Jacob like deceivers who have clothed ourselves in another’s likeness with our weak, watered down down religion, to steal a blessing that is not rightfully ours, and not only steal, but but steal from the true son.
But this is no larceny, the true son himself carries this unmerited inheritence to us. The true heir waits on our table, brings over his own full plate and then offers his desert that we can’t begin to eat!
We who are so far from being ready or right for the revelation of the Father’s love, are those who receive this flood tide. Not through deceit, coercion or effort, but by the bringer of this love, Jesus Christ, who willingly shares all that he is and has with us.
He truly is the perfect elder brother, who rather than remaining outside in his disapproving perfection, travels to the dirt of the city, and the filth of the pig farm of our sin to retrieve our wayward, lonely hearts. Even before we had thought longingly of home and secure love, he had long since set of to rescue us from the far country and bring us into the warmth, safety and rejoicing of his Father’s house.
Paul is right when he says, 'God demonstrates his own love for us in this, whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' The Apostle John has got it when he declares, 'Behold what manner of love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, for that is what we are.'
Wesley fell deep into this revelation when he sang. 'He left his Father's throne above, so free, so infinite his grace. Emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race. Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me.'
Behold, wonder, meditate, explore, worship with joy and gladness, and never exhaust this infinite mystery that the Father has loved us as he loves his true son. And read on friends, as we have our hard hearts softened in worship, recognise that this love of Christ is the way we are to love one another.
Is there a richer, more securing, and yet more undeserving statement in the entire bible than these words of Jesus to his disciples, recorded in John15.9?
John 17.23 only strengthens the point. Jesus speaking to the Father about his disciples, '....you have loved them even as you have loved me. v26 '...the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.'
Are we getting this? Jesus confirms that he loves us in the same way that he has been loved by his Father. That the Father has loved us in the same way that he has loved his son Jesus. That the love the Father has for him can be in us too - indeed, Jesus himself, the personification of that love, will be in us. These are staggering truths to meditate on!The depth and the richness of the Father’s eternal perfect love towards his Son: This same, eternal, relentless love, has been turned towards us, shared with us, poured into our hearts, carried to us by Jesus himself who reveals this love.
And us, so undeserving, so unworthy to receive unconditional love. We the fakes and wannabes. We the Jacob like deceivers who have clothed ourselves in another’s likeness with our weak, watered down down religion, to steal a blessing that is not rightfully ours, and not only steal, but but steal from the true son.
But this is no larceny, the true son himself carries this unmerited inheritence to us. The true heir waits on our table, brings over his own full plate and then offers his desert that we can’t begin to eat!
We who are so far from being ready or right for the revelation of the Father’s love, are those who receive this flood tide. Not through deceit, coercion or effort, but by the bringer of this love, Jesus Christ, who willingly shares all that he is and has with us.
He truly is the perfect elder brother, who rather than remaining outside in his disapproving perfection, travels to the dirt of the city, and the filth of the pig farm of our sin to retrieve our wayward, lonely hearts. Even before we had thought longingly of home and secure love, he had long since set of to rescue us from the far country and bring us into the warmth, safety and rejoicing of his Father’s house.
Paul is right when he says, 'God demonstrates his own love for us in this, whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' The Apostle John has got it when he declares, 'Behold what manner of love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, for that is what we are.'
Wesley fell deep into this revelation when he sang. 'He left his Father's throne above, so free, so infinite his grace. Emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race. Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me.'
Behold, wonder, meditate, explore, worship with joy and gladness, and never exhaust this infinite mystery that the Father has loved us as he loves his true son. And read on friends, as we have our hard hearts softened in worship, recognise that this love of Christ is the way we are to love one another.
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