Living in the Vine 13  

Overflowing Love

John 15:9; 1 John 4:16b; John 17:24 and 10:17-18; Song of Song 8:6b.

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” So, in order to understand just how much we are truly loved by Jesus, we must first seek to understand how much Father God loved Him.

John states categorically that God is love. This is not an attribute or a part of His character but His fundamental essence – the very core around which all His magnificent and glorious attributes revolve. God is love through and through. There is no single part of who He is that is not burning with the fire of His intense love; even in judgement His end purpose is that we might turn to Him and receive His love. But as the Sunday School song says, “Love is nothing till you give it away.” God has never kept that love to Himself; He cannot help Himself but give it away. He is always giving, giving and giving love. 

Ever since the foundation of the world, He has had two objects into whom He has poured His deepest pure, eternal, perfect, gentle and tender, unchangeable heart-love. The first is Jesus, the Son, of whom He declared, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17), and the second is humanity – you and me! If we can grasp just how much Father loves Jesus, then this gives us a window into just how much He loves us too, because He loves each one of us in exactly the same way.

Father chose Jesus, and He also chose us in Christ, to demonstrate His love even before He made the world, which is rather amazing.

Jesus was there with Father God in the very activity of creation (John 1:1). Both Peter and Paul write that Father chose Jesus, and He also chose us in Christ, to demonstrate His love even before He made the world, which is rather amazing (Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20)! When Jesus loves us, it isn’t with the love of earthbound time as we know it, but with a love that flows to us from out of eternity (Jer 31:3).

Father’s love for Jesus never held anything back (Jn 3:35), and it was out of the overflow of that love that, when the appointed time came, He parted company with the Son He loved for a period of time in order for Jesus to demonstrate that love to us. So that we might “…grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:18-19). God’s love is sacrificial; it cost Him dearly to send Jesus who, for us, gave up everything – even His throne in glory – that we might become partakers in His divine nature and inheritance in Christ (Philippians 2:5-8; 2 Peter 1:3-4).

God’s love points us to the Cross (John 15:9).  The challenge to each of us is, then, how do we respond to the overwhelming enormity of Father’s love? Jesus invites us to ‘abide’ (dwell, remain, rest) in His love.

Prayer time

• Take the time to read thoughtfully through all the additional scriptures in today’s notes. Settle on the one that speaks to you most and give yourself time to reflect on what Father is teaching you about His love for you.
• Father God delights in you; He loves you unreservedly and with real heart-longing and earnest desire to spend time with you and enjoy your company. You are incredibly precious to Him, more than you can ever imagine. On the community resources page of my website there is a beautiful recording of some of the many different aspects of Father’s love shown to us: The Father Who Delights in You.  Listen to it and simply rest in His presence, allowing Father’s heart of love to wash over you. Enjoy being with Him and worship Him.