God Really Loves

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and (that You) loved them, even as You have loved Me. (John 17:22-23)

Again I believe I am catching a glimpse of the very core essence of the gospel which is the good news about God in this passage. Jesus came to this world to reveal the real truth about how God feels about us. In His prayer to His Father here, He is sharing that He intends for all those who embrace this truth about His Father to become similar reflectors of the good news about God just as Jesus did. That good news is spelled out here in Jesus' words. The world – not just those who believe – needs to know that the Father loves them just as much as He loved Jesus. If one really begins to see this it is stunning.

The glory referred to here as having been given to His disciples (which He also said includes all of us who believe) is for the purpose of making us one in unity of love just as the godhead is in perfect unity of love and purpose. As we are perfected in love (and this only happens as we receive the glory of God and allow His reflection to be increasingly incorporated into our own character), the world becomes more and more convicted and convinced that indeed the Father does love all of us including them.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

Why is it important that all men know we are disciples of Jesus? This verse tells us how that will happen, but it doesn't explain why it needs to happen. That is what is seen in the previously quoted verses. The purpose for men coming to know we are disciples of Jesus by observing our love for one another, is to elicit an awareness of God's love directly for them even while they are yet His enemies.

That raises serious implications as to what is involved in the love we display for one another. If this love is a love that is reflective of God's agape love emanating from those in which He dwells richly, then it will not be just a love between disciples who love Jesus but will include the enemy-love that was demonstrated by Jesus all throughout His life and particularly during His last torturous hours going to the cross. It is this enemy-love that has power to transform sinners into saints and that must be seen in the lives of His followers if the world is to again catch a clear view of the true gospel.

The concept or definition of the term gospel has nearly lost all of its original power because it has been stripped of the potent elements that made it so effusive during the first two centuries after Christ returned to heaven. I believe that not until we take seriously these truths exposed in Jesus' teachings and example can the irresistible power of the gospel again break into the world as His children experience and demonstrate the kind of irrational, irrepressible love that flows from the heart of God through Jesus then through all who believe in Him to all those who still resist this truth about Him.

I still feel extremely frustrated that I am beginning to see all these incredible truths in theory but still am so devoid of living and experiencing them from my own heart. My heart has become calloused from a very early age to these potentially life-transforming truths because of misinterpretations and misrepresentations of God by those around me, and it is taking a very long time to become softened as I learn about them. But it must happen, and I increasingly desire to experience all that I am starting to see as the real power of the gospel, not just become conscious of it. I want to experience it personally and become an experiment of God's grace as He turns me into a more effective channel of His love to those around me. I want to be part of what allows the world to again see that God really loves His enemies just as much as He loves His own Son.