LOVE AS JESUS LOVED

 

LOVE AS JESUS LOVED

John 15:9-10 "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love." NLT

Can anyone really know just how God loves Jesus? All I know is that God is perfect in love. We can't grasp how it is to be loved perfectly because we fall so far short of it. We can grasp a little bit of what God's love is like when we observe how Jesus loved His disciples. When we follow the lives of Jesus and His disciples over the span of the three years they were together, we see unconditional acceptance of them and a willingness to sacrifice himself for them. Jesus did not love them only when they were agreeable and supportive. He loved them no matter how they messed up or struggled in their understanding of Him.

Jesus reminded them to remain in His love. It's so easy to wander away from His love. Whenever we start doing our own thing instead of what God tells us to do, we wander from His love. Obeying the Lord is the key to staying in His love. We can't say that we love Him when we don't do what He tells us to do. We can’t remain in His love when we keep neglecting Him. We can’t remain in His love when we try to maintain our relationship with Him on our own. We can’t remain in His love when we are more concerned about pleasing others than we are Him. We can’t remain in His love without having a consistent devotional life. We can’t remain in His love by hoarding our faith and not sharing it with others.

Jesus submitted himself to God's will. In everything He sought to do what God sent Him to do. He expects us to do the same thing. We must submit ourselves to God's will for us always. We must be willing to go, do and be what the Lord wants of us. If we really love the Lord, it is the way we will live.