Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. (John 15:9 NASB)
Love has to be received not just given. Jesus had done just that. He’d lived attentive to the presence of His Father’s love. He received it and felt its daily deluge. In the boat asleep, walking across the lake, all night in prayer, challenged by the religious leaders, compelled by the demands of the crowd, He’d always felt the embrace. Jesus never had to succumb to peer pressure or capitulate to the authorities of the day because His confidence rested in His Father’s love, not theirs. Fear, insecurity or worry didn’t have a place in His life. He knew His Father, His care, His attention and His embrace.
So as He considers His impending departure via the cross, He invites His closest friends to abide in that very same love. Jesus wants to express the truth, reality, and presence of His love, whether He’s visible or not. He longs for the disciples to grasp that the very same love they’d seen embrace Him, embraces them. He invites them to abide, just as He’d lived in the fullness of the Father’s care, they too could live in His. They’d seen Jesus do it. They could too. All they need to do is attend and be present to the One Who is with them. Love has to be received to experience what has been given. Let’s learn to receive His embrace.
For Reflection:
“For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield.” (Psalms 5:12 NAS95)
- What does abiding in Christ’s love mean to you? How aware are you of His daily love?
- What are the times in your life when you have been overwhelmed by the experience His love?
