04/13/2021
Are we living in the love of Christ, and has our desire for him found its fullness? Is our attention fixed solely on him, and do we feel his presence in us always? These things come from being unmistakably, and completely captured by love, and being loved is often fueled by our obedience. If we are in a reciprocal love we want to please, and if we please we are doing those things that the object of our love desires. So what does Jesus desire of us, and are we doing them?
“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 15:10 ESV
God’s love for us was so deeply founded that even though we were sinful, and disobedient He risked sending His Beloved Son to redeem us through His suffering, and death. The blood of Christ became the offering that cleansed us. Jesus loved us, and there is no doubt in the love that He has for us; His words unabashedly professes it...
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
John 15:9 ESV
It is hard to love someone, or something, that causes you pain, or gives you great disappointment, and yet God’s love for us overcame this, and was intense enough to warrant that He extend Himself, and the love of His Son, to save us from ourselves... our sinful, and worldly, selves. Despite the distastefulness of our behavior, and our continuous disobedience, God’s love fueled His overwhelming desire for us to love Him. Listen as Jesus responded to a lawyer who was testing Him regarding the greatest commandment...
““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:36-38 ESV
A father can love his son even though he is rebellious, disobedient, or his presence becomes a distraction, but there can reach a point in their relationship in which the son must leave his father’s house, and find his own way because his behavior, or the circumstances, have become intolerable. Yet, even though the son leaves, the father’s love for him, his son, remains. We see this with Abraham... Ishmael was required to leave Abraham’s house, while Isaac remained, but Abraham was reluctant to send Ishmael away because this was his son, and If God had not spoken to Abraham he might not have sent him away at all…
“So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
Genesis 21:10-12 ESV
We have proven today that we don’t earn God’s love, and the love of Jesus simply by obeying their commandments, no, we obey their commandments because of our love for them, and theirs for us. In this way the love we feel preexists our obedience, and we come to take up residence (abide) in their love by demonstrating our obedience.
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”
Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us so completely that even in our disobedience your love for us remains. Thank you for loving us even though our circumstances might make it necessary for you to send us away. Help us to love you with all our heart, and to obey you in your commandments, so that we will remain in your house as Isaac did in Abraham’s, and that we not suffer the fate of Ishmael... who continued in his father’s love, but not his presence. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who reaches out to us with the blood of Jesus, and offers us a way home. Merciful are you who waits by the road watching intently for the return of your prodigal children. Amazing is the grace you have extended us through Jesus that no door should remain closed to those who wish to be transformed, and enter into your presence through it. Wash us clean in the blood of Christ, and make us acceptable in your sight Father. Look at our lives, and see only the fresh blood of Jesus, and not a hint of the sins it covers. Call us worthy, and welcome us to your table for all eternity... and hear our songs, and worship forevermore.
Rich Forbes