You are Loved by the Father as Jesus is Loved by the Father

Church Family:
Here is a life-changing reality for you to dwell on to increase your joy in God: God's love is the third person of the Godhead. If you truly know God, you share in the same love that God the Father has with God the Son, and that love has a name: The Holy Spirit. Simply put, the love shared between the Father and the Son is so perfect, unceasing, and embodying of all the attributes of God that this profound love is recognized as the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

In John 17:24-26, before the night of Jesus’ death, Jesus asks His Father for us to experience the same love that He and His Father have shared from all eternity. Think of the magnitude of love and affection God the Father has for God the Son. That is how much God loves you and that love comes in the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the power of Christ, God’s love has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit who was given to you by the Father (John 14:26; Rom. 5:5). God wants you to fully experience the bond of love that flows from the Father to the Son, who is the Holy Spirit. You are loved by the Father as Jesus is loved by the Father! And that eternal love is to be such an experience in your life that it will give you complete confidence in the day of judgment as it casts out all fear (1 John 4:17-8). How does it do that? It is because that love is the same Holy Spirit of God that Jesus has experienced from the Father for all eternity. To say the least, that is a powerful, eternal, righteous, forgiving, redeeming love that gives peace with God and is free from condemnation.

That Holy Spirit love is such a powerful gift given to believers it enables us to love with the same love that exists eternally between the Father and the Son. By this love, who is the person of the Holy Spirit, we display to others who God is and how He loves them. The Holy Spirit of God in us is the manifestation of God to the world (1 John 4:7-21). What does God want the world to see through His Spirit living in us? He wants the world to see a love that is strange and not of this world. They will see a love that can only be explained by the power of God in His people. They will see a patient love, caring for others, not envious or arrogant. It won't be rude or force itself on others, nor be selfish or quick-tempered. They will see a love that takes pleasure in truth, bears with everyone, trusts God, looks for the best, never looks back, and endures forever. This is the love that exists between God the Father and the Son and now lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Experience and enjoy today the same love the Father has for the Son and share it with others.

See you Sunday, loved by the Father: Steve