Remain in My Love

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” - John 15:9

In the very next verse Jesus tells His disciples that if they keep His commands then they will remain in His love for them. In verse 12, Jesus reiterates the most important command aside from loving God, “Love each other as I have loved you.” So what Jesus is saying here is that if we love each other as He has loved us, then we will remain in His love. And therein lies, I would argue, one of the greatest mysteries in all of the universe: by loving other human beings we experience and dwell in the unfathomable love God the Father has for God the Son. When we choose to love people as the divine workmanship that they really are, we also partake in a heavenly fellowship that’s existed before the foundation of the world.
 
More than anything, I want whoever is reading this to know that choosing to love another human being is nothing short of divine. When I read John 15:9 in light of the rest of the chapter, I realize that I cannot remain in the love God has for me unless my life expression is one of love towards humanity. In other words, I can say I love God all I want but it’s all lip service if it’s divorced from love for people. And it’s no wonder God wouldn’t have it any other way. Each person that has ever lived or will ever live on this planet is a fresh expression of His love. He is fiercely jealous for each of their affections. And He desperately wants each person to see the other as the work of love that they truly are.

I could honestly keep dissecting and interpreting this passage, but I really feel like God wants me to voice my heart of intercession for the Wesley body and specifically for those reading this blog. We are meant to dwell on the mystery that is God’s love. There is no amount of writing that any person could do to describe it. The only way that you will ever be able to experience God’s love is dwelling in it. So take this and pray it over yourself. Take time. Give yourself more time than you think you would need. Receive anything the Lord has for you.
 
Father, we want to remain in your love. I thank you that you are so happy to teach us how to remain in your love. I thank you that you patiently counsel us by your Spirit on how to love each person as the expression of your love that they are. I eagerly desire that each person reading this would be filled with an unquenchable thirst for your love. I ask that the deepest part of who they are wouldn’t be able to be satisfied by anything other than your steadfast love. We desperately want to remain in the love that has existed between You, Your Son and Your Spirit since before the foundation of this world and will exist far beyond the death of this life.

So Father I ask for a grace on us all to remain in your love. Would you show us how to regard loving other human beings as the most heaven-worthy calling on our lives. By your Spirit remind us again and again of the love that is shown to us by Jesus so that we may always be freely receiving so that we may freely give in return. I’m asking for you to set our minds right and to give us clear eyes to see other people more the way you see them. Would we delight in who they are in the same way that you delight in each of us. We confess our need for you to teach us how to remain in your love. Show us by your Spirit. Amen.

Author | Adam Salway