Guest Post: Perfect Love

Today I am excited to present a guest post from a lovely friend of mine, Jenny! You may remember Jenny's sister, Katie, who guest posted for me a few months back. You can read that post here. Jenny is such a blessing and encouragement to me, and she is truly gifted with words!! She could be a very compelling author...I'm still working on her about that. ;) Without further ado, I shall let her writing speak for itself! :)

Perfect Love

"As the Father hath loved me,so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."
~ John 15:9

John 15 speaks of so many things, the main theme being the importance of abiding in God's love. But right now,I'd like to focus on this verse, because it really jumped out at me recently. What does that mean, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you"?? How does God the Father love His Son Jesus Christ? Well... He loves Jesus perfectly, the kind of perfect love which "casteth out fear" (I John 4:18) He loves His Son completely, fully. A father's love is a strong love, a love without end. I know that my Daddy loves me. No matter how much I mess up, he'll never stop loving me. And since God is love (I John 4:16), how much more must He love His Son? I believe that God the Father loves His Son with the truest love in the world...even more than Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth, even more than the "wuv,true wuv" of Wesley and Buttercup in The Princess Bride! :)

And then the other part of the phrase..."so have I loved you:" Wait, wait. Does that mean that Jesus loves ME that much? As much as His Father loves Him?? Me? How can He? I can think of hundreds of different reasons for Him not to love me like that. I am not worthy. I'm so weak, so sinful. So filthy in His presence. (Isaiah 64:6) And yet He loves me. Enough to die for me. That's an overwhelming thought! I know better than anyone how unlovable I can be. To think that Christ loves me like God loves Him...? Sure, I can deal with the song "Jesus Loves Me". That's easy to say, but when faced with the reality that He loves me perfectly? Completely? Endlessly? Thinking about that makes me want to cry!

Jesus loves me. But not only me! The wonder goes on, as I try to fathom that He loves each and every person on this earth, despite our great sins against Him. (The clear teachings of Romans 3:10,3:23, First John 1:8,and Ecclesiastes 7:2 show us that we've all sinned!) Yet He has suffered and bled and died for our sins, because He loves us with that deep, abiding, everlasting and unconditional love. As that song goes, "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight." It doesn't matter who you are, or what you've done. It makes no difference to Him, for He is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11) He loves each and every soul alive, as well as those who've already passed on. To each of them He offers Himself to cover their sins. To each He offers eternal life. Romans 6:23 tells us "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Salvation is not limited to any denomination, race, gender, or age, but it is available for everyone. "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

So, now that we are starting to realize just how much Jesus loves us, we arrive at the last phrase in the verse. The part where we are to continue in His love. The part where we live out the rest of John 15, such as verse 17: "These things I command you,that ye love one another." First John 4:11 puts it this way.... "Beloved, if God so loved us,we ought also to love one another." The amazing, powerful love of Jesus Christ should spread to those around us, those whom He died for!

Do you have a hard time believing how much Jesus Christ loves you? Are you loving Him as He loves you? Is God's amazing love for you being evidenced in your life? Is it shown through your treatment of others?

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I am so thankful for Jenny writing this sweet post! What an amazing thing is God's love for us. I'd like to add that one of the most powerful evidences of His perfect love is the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead for us!!!! As we celebrate His resurrection this weekend, let's meditate on how very much God loved us to send His Son for our salvation. Christ is risen!

Mykaela