AS THE FATHER HAS LOVE ME

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

In his amazing book “Thirsting” by Strahan Coleman he talks about this verse and so I’ll just quote from.

“Consider that. This is the eternal word. Jesus who was with God since the beginning enjoying this trinitarian community of perfect love. Jesus has never been insecure; He’s only ever experienced Gods joyful love lavished on him. His affection and peace covering and filling Him. His provision and care looking after Him. Its impossible for us to imagine what that is like. And yet now He is saying that He loves us with that same love. Theres no thinking our way into grasping the sheer magnitude of this. It must be experienced or better still co -experienced. God within us is our entering into the eternal conversation of love through Christ. No longer an outsider but an insider. That’s what the New Testament language of being in Christ is pointing to. Now that we are in Christ, we have been invited to experience God has He does.

Its really too much to take in isn’t it. This is not Jesus saying a nice poetic statement. He’s speaking of something that he invites us into to experience. Salvation isn’t only just about the forgiveness and healing of our sin as wonderful as that is. It’s also an invitation to this kind of living. To union with God. God loves me. He lives in me. I have all of Him. Knowing it in the centre of our being is something else. It’s something only He can do. No wonder Paul prays in Ephesians 3:14-20. That we would know and experience the height and depth length and breath of Gods love and know this love that passes all knowledge. Transcends our natural mind and thinking. He invites us to experience Gods desire for God. He becomes the thirst beneath our thirsts.