“Father, I want those
you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you
have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous
Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you
have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you
known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself
may be in them.” John 17:24-26
If you look up the word love in the dictionary, it gives
several meanings. It is used both as a noun, and as a verb. However, I believe
that love is much bigger than we ever imagined, and much more obscured. 1
Corinthians 13:4 explains love to some degree, “Love is patient and kind. Love
is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud.” But yet we are still
missing the full meaning.
In the prayer of John 17, Jesus is praying for us right
before He was to be handed over, tried, and crucified. One pinnacle of the
prayer is when He says, “In order that the love you have for me may be in
them.” I believe that many times our minds limit who God is. The Bible says
quite clearly that God is Love. This prayer is another example of God’s love,
and His being.
We are asked to Love the Lord, with all our heart, soul,
mind and strength. He is asking no more than what He gave to us. God gave us
His Son who displayed all the attributes of the, I AM. In verse 21 of John 17,
Jesus says to the Father, “You are in me and I am in you.” He displayed the
mind of the Father, His own physical strength of human flesh, the soul of the
Holy Spirit and the heart, which is Love.” God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, the heart, soul, mind and strength, all one, and all Love.
Jesus, continued in that same verse, “I pray that they can
also be one in us.” Love is not only an attribute which God possesses, or a
response of God through His Son, but God is love. When God ask us to love one
another, He is imparting not only a response in us, but is bequeathing His very
nature into us. It is by His love that we are able to love. God is the author
and creator of Love. Without God, love would be nonexistent.
This Love cannot be adequately defined in a dictionary, or
commentary. This Love is not bound by size, gravity, space or time. Jesus could
walk into a room without going through a door; Love has no matter. Jesus could
walk on water; Love is not bound to nature. Jesus could turn a small amount of
food into an abundance; Love cannot be numbered. God can hear the prayers of
everyone, at all times, from all over the world; Love is all knowing. God is in
the past, present, and future; Love is timeless. God is the creator; Love can
do all things. God never slumbers or sleeps; Love never tires.
1 John 4:8 says very clearly, “Anyone who does not love does
not know God, because God is love.” And, 1 John 4: 16 says, “So we know the
love that God has for us, and we trust that love. God is love. Everyone who
lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them.” Commentators call God’s
Love, Agape. But in simple terms, God’s Love is a non-dimensional,
non-denominational, immeasurable, incomparable, timeless, tireless, all
knowing, and unexplainable Word, Truth, and Life. Love is, just as God is. God
IS Love!
Dear Author of Love,
We do not worship love but we worship you as love, and we
thank you for your response of love.
Amen
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