Psalm 17:15 – As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
THEME OF THE DAY: OH THE LOVE OF CHRIST FOR US. A regular reading intake of the Gospels is vital for Christian growth. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John allow us to “walk with Jesus” as He walked upon the earth. We observe His compassion in healing the sick. We listen to His profound preaching in The Sermon on the Mount. We stand awe-struck over His calming of the seas with just three words of command, “Peace, be still.” And in reading the Gospels, we are exposed to the sacred heart of God. This revelation unfolds during the most intimate of settings Jesus had with His disciples and is recorded in John’s Gospel, chapters thirteen through seventeen. Let me encourage us to spend time soon in this beautiful section of scripture. It is life-changing.
As one enters this scene of Jesus with His disciples, there are two statements our Lord makes which are overwhelming to the soul of His child. The first one appears in chapter fifteen and the second is found in His prayer of chapter seventeen.
The first statement is designed to calm the fears, anxieties, and even sense of failure so often characterizing His sheep. It was so for the disciples and it is so for us. All of us experience fears, doubts, stresses, and seemingly endless failures in the Christian life. Combined, they easily discourage us to the point we may question God’s love for us. But then . . . we hear these words of our Lord Jesus, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9).
Friends, we are loved with an everlasting love, a never-failing love, a constant love, and a love which simply will not let us go. Fail we will. Doubts will come. Yet, run to these words of Jesus – “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” Meditate upon this wonderful truth and our downcast hearts will soar to heights of worship and gratitude for Christ’s love for us.
The next statement Jesus makes comes from His praying heart. Toward the end of His prayer, He reveals a strong personal desire, “Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). Please, don’t rush through what Jesus prays. Pause, ponder, meditate, savor every word; let the Spirit of God fill our hearts with holy awe of the Lord’s intense desire for us to be with Him. As we do, something will begin to happen in our lives. We will begin to yearn for His Presence. His prayer for us becomes our prayer for Him. And there is nothing which will promote godly living and Christ-pursuing holiness more than to long for Him and heaven. In fact, that is what characterizes healthy and growing Christians; this intensifying desire to be with Jesus. Does it characterize us? Is there a deepening desire to go to heaven, not to escape from this world, but to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18)?
Oh, the love of Christ for us! It goes beyond description and deeper than the deepest oceans, yet, it is knowable and is to be our experience. And we may know and experience it as we learn to meditate upon the two truths of His love. We are loved by Christ as the Father loves Him and Christ longs for us to be with Him in a place of constant love from Him who is love.
PRAYER: Father, open my heart that I may learn to see the heart of Your Son.
QUOTE: “We may only know the love of Christ when we seek to know the love of Christ.”