As the Father Loved Me

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. - John 15:9 (ESV)

Your current station or situation in life does not disqualify you from the love of Christ, not matter how demeaning or challenging. The low estate you find yourself in does not break the great pact of his faithful love for you. Your level of suffering is not inversely proportionate to the level of his love for you. Christ’s love is just as passionate and eternal as the Father’s love is for him.

Love, in some ways, is like joy. Joy isn't sourced in the current climate or found in lack of emotional turmoil. The joy of the Lord which is our strength is not found in the temporal but finds its rich flow and lavished abundance in the eternal- in the Eternal One. And so is the love of Christ towards you who have received Him. It does not cool in response to your failure or warm towards you when you're having a good day.

This great love has been shared between the Father and the Son for all eternity, and when Jesus says he loves us as the Father loves him, he is speaking not of love as a fair-weather friend, but rather as an eternal and abiding love - a love that will not quit, a love that will not let you go. He loves us with an everlasting love.

... and the Word was with God (John 1:1b). Jesus and the Father faced one another in an eternally intimate and shameless love. Literally, the Word was towards the Father. Unbreakable, perfect union. This is what Jesus had in mind when he spoke of his love for you in John 15:9.

It may seem odd to say this, but this Scripture is one of my favorites on suffering because it redefines love. Love does not say, "You'll never suffer under my watch." The Father’s love for his Son was eternally great, yet because it was not blind to our desperate need, because it saw our condition as sinners in need of a Savior, because it was so great for us, God was willing to sacrifice that which he loved most: his Son. And that same love for us was shared entirely by Jesus; he was not forced to lay down his life but laid it down willingly because He loved us.

And so, Jesus calls us, just as he has called Paul and Peter and all believers, to suffer for the sake of others. This is not a loveless call in any way; in fact, it is a call to greater love, to shared love. For can we really call love that is not shared, love? Know this, Jesus has walked the path he is asking you to walk, and in your toughest times, his love is not diminished, no, it is actually increased through your obedience to the call to love another.

So, the next time you are called to lay down your own desire, your own comfort, know this: you are still loved deeply, you are still held tightly, and his plans for you are not to end in tragedy or loss, but are good, and will end in glory.

Scripture References

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." (Jeremiah 31:3 NIV)

No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded. (John 10:18 NLT)