Part 3: I Have Received a Changeless Love
Here we are, week 3, right in the middle of our series called Am I Enough? And I love this subject we’re going to look at. It's right where it should be — right in the middle — and it’s on the changeless love of Jesus Christ.
In John 15, Jesus tells us, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9 (NASB) It's Jesus saying, “To the exact extent that my Father loves Me, I love you.” Isn’t that preposterous?! I always say, question His taste, but don't question His character. He means it.
I don't know why, but God wanted to create a creature that He could fully love, and never pull back from — only draw closer with.
Today, in answering that question of “How do I convince myself that I don't have to bluff, that I'm not an inferior human being?”, we come to this beautiful place — God has chosen to put His full love on you, and nobody can take it away. It defines you. Even to only grab hold of that one thing, and walk in the night air and say, “Is it true?” See, my love then is a response to His love. It’s not me trying to impress Him enough or do something that would make me worthy of His love. It’s an entirely different way of living.
So, I want to spend a moment to remind us of three things when we become afraid that His love is absent.
Loss of a present sense of God's love is not a loss of that love itself.
Love relationship is formed most deeply, not when you are on your game, but when you can't seem to make sense of almost anything.
The love of Jesus is never being withheld from you… ever.
No matter what you've done, or think you've done, He is loving you with all He is, every moment of every day. Even if you can't feel it, it's happening right now. And when you can’t sense His affection, it’s not because He’s angry or disappointed with you. He doesn’t play that game. He's never disgusted with you. Never does He say, “Are you kidding me? Give me a break! Come on, are you serious?” That's not how He loves. He loves you perfectly. He sees you perfectly. He knows you perfectly. He knows you're right on time. And He chooses to wear your fragility and pain, or undiagnosed confusion or darkness, your loss and sadness, or depression...
He loves you so much that when you can’t stand up, He stands over you.
In every pain you experience, He says, “I'm not sitting across the room watching you in it. I am living it with you. Missing none of it. Experiencing it to the exact extent that you are.” In fact, maybe even more, because He doesn't have any way to cover Himself, to protect Himself, to medicate Himself.
I want to end with saying this: Jesus has known of whatever condition you hate in yourself, and He's known it from before the world began. He went to the cross so He could be endlessly close to you. Even if that condition that you hate never improves, His love is independent of your improvement. It is the real you He loves, not who you think you should be. How did we stumble into this?
All right. That's week three of this five-week series, Am I Enough? Join me next week, my friend, where we’ll talk about the fact that you are being continually renewed.
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