God’s love for us is unchanging. He does not love us more if we behave, nor does He love us less if we do not. So does it really matter what we do? Does it matter if I choose or not to love Him with all my heart, mind soul and strength (Matthew 22:37)? Well first of all, He loves everybody, even those who reject Him. And those who reject Him, spurning His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life, are in essence choosing to spend eternity without Him. He will not force himself on anyone. Yes He does still love them, and it grieves Him deeply. I believe that when we feel the sting of rejection, we are in some small way feeling just a touch of His pain in this regard. To love is a choice, it cannot be forced. And the Lord took a risk He took when He gave us free will. But if my choice to love is to be meaningful, it has to include the real possibility that I can totally reject Him.
In John 15:9 Jesus tells us to abide in His love. He is talking to believers, the “branches” who are part of Jesus the vine (verse 5). So again, the commandment would make no sense if it were not possible for the Christian, to disobey and fail to abide. But what does it mean to abide, and what does it look like in terms of knowing and experiencing His love? Well, He tells us “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (verse 10). And “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (verse 12). This last commandment of course, links the first commandment with the second “to love your neighbour as yourself.”
In fact, speaking in terms of His commandments, Jesus tells us that the two greatest are the very ones we are talking about here. The first is to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, the second to love our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22:38,39). To abide in Him is to abide in His love then, is to love Him with all we are and have, to love others, to be immersed in His Word, to continue in it, encountering Him and His Word in an ongoing manner. When we do this, we are marinated, changed, empowered and transformed by these things. A cucumber only becomes a pickle when it abides long term in the vinegar. Likewise we encounter His transforming love in an ever deeper way as we abide, remain long term in His love and in His Word.
Father, I keep coming back to the analogy of human love. When we commit to love, respect and honour one another, and to deal with what needs to be dealt with, then we grow in love and security in the relationship. The analogy breaks down in a way, because Your love is unchangeable. But in another way is does not, because what changes and grows is our access to encounter, our ability to feel and to be empowered by Your love, and to do the very things that You command us to do. We love because You first loved us (1 John 4:19). And then when we do this, You turn round and reward us for doing what You have enabled us to do. There is none like You Father, and I praise and thank and bless You again this morning in Jesus Name Amen
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