03/16/2018
Jesus loves us, this sounds like such a simple statement, and is indeed the repeating theme of a childish worship song whose lyrics begin “Jesus loves me this I know”, but do we really know this? Do we understand the depth and complexity of His love for us? A bigger question is, how do we experience this love.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I 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.”
John 15:9-10 ESV
We are told to keep the commandments of Jesus, and in that way we will abide in His love. As we read them they seem so simple and basic, at least in their saying, and yet, like many simple thoughts and things, they become challenging in their application. As an example let’s visit the commandment He gives us in a subsequent verse...
“"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 ESV
This sounds so simple, but have you ever really done this? Loving someone who loves you back is easy enough, but what about loving those who do not, or who irritate you in just about everything they do or say?
I once knew a fellow who even as an adult had the innocence of a child. Beyond that, I never heard him say a bad thing about anyone, and his faith and charity were nearly without blemish... but he had a condition in which he talked incessantly, and described every aspect of his life in excruciating detail. He was loving, faithful, lived the life of Christ, and was brilliant, but this one flaw irritated me to no end. I found it hard to be around him, as a matter of fact I tried to avoid him... until something amazing happened... I loved him back.
One day as he was telling me some incredibly detailed account of a problem he had solved, something clicked within me, and at that moment I loved him. I didn’t just say I loved him as I tried to avoid being around him... I truly loved him. I saw in him the child of God He was, and I loved him in spite of the exuberance with which he described everything. I loved him like one of my own children, and the feeling of that overpowered me. I knew right then that this was what Jesus was talking about. This man, and this moment had become a gift to me.
What attributes about ourselves would grate on the nerves of Jesus if it weren’t for His love for us? What about us would make him want to avoid being near us? I dare say that the list would be long, and yet He loves us... in us He sees the child of God. I was reading Andrew Murray, and he described the love of Jesus in this way...
“When it was needed, He sacrificed His throne and crown for you; He did not count His own life and blood too dear to give for you. His righteousness, His Spirit, His Glory, even His throne — all are yours. This love holds nothing back, but, in a manner that no human mind can grasp, makes you one with itself. O wondrous love!” - Andrew Murray
There are many I need to love, but through the love of this one man, I now know how to do that, and what it feels like to give love unconditionally. I know the sheer joy that permeates us, and the moment of abiding in Jesus I had only thought I knew.
Loving those who are like us, and who love us back comes fairly easy, but loving those who don’t love us, and those we would otherwise find repulsive is hard... this makes understanding the childhood lyric “Jesus loves me” one of the most difficult and life changing events we can imagine; yet in doing so we are changed. Each one of Jesus’ commandments brings us deeper into Himself, and infuses us with His love, and the immeasurably great joy that only our abiding in Him can give. Are you ready to find the difficulty within the simplicity of His commandments, and then allow the Holy Spirit to bring you the understanding you need to overcome your shortcomings in obeying it? Can you love those around you regardless of who they are, and how they grate on you?
“These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
John 15:17 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the love of your Son Jesus and for making provision that I can abide in it, and Him. I thank you for the quickening joy that obeying His commandments brings to my soul, and the feeling that His love pours over me. I know Holy Father that as I obey the commandments of your Son, and abide in His love, I also find myself within yours, and I don’t know how to thank you enough for that. I praise your name as I learn to live in obedience, and overcome my inability to fully understand the essence of what, on the surface, seems so simple, and yet is so hard for me. I thank you for your Holy Spirit, and the understanding it imparts to me; without this I would most certainly fail... without this I would not know your love and the joy that it brings. You are merciful Father, and your love for me fills the depths of my being to overflowing. Your grace is sufficient, and spurs me on as I seek to know you more completely. Teach me how to obey Holy Father, and I will give you the glory and praise for the abiding love I find myself within. Holy, Holy, Holy, art thou and great is your love.
Rich Forbes