28. How Much Does He Love Us?
The Bible says that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus!
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples together and shared one last meal with them. The Last Supper. In the urgency of this hour, He used this time to share with them some of His most essential truths.
In this context, Jesus said something in His prayer to the Father that seems beyond belief.
John 17:23(NLT) “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”
Jesus stated that the Father loves us as much as He loves Jesus!
I can only imagine the depth of love that exists between the Father and Jesus. As members of the Trinity, they have shared in the most intimate, committed loving relationship for all of eternity. Their love for each other is more profound than any other love in the universe. And this verse says that the Father loves us with this same love.
One of my earliest childhood memories is that of my brother and I standing next to the kitchen table while Mum was eating her breakfast. We were asking her who she loved more. My brother, being two years older than me, was putting forward his case that mum must love him more because she had him first. I was claiming she must love me more because I was the baby. Mum, being a good mother, was responding by saying she loved us the same. Not satisfied with this answer, we were still suggesting that, although she loved us the same, she must love one of us just a little more than the other, and we continued to press the point. As children, we didn’t understand that good parents love each of their children equally.
My wife and I had a difficult time conceiving our children. We graduated from Bible college, decorated the spare room, and friends gave us a cot. It was all going to be so simple. But it was eleven years before we eventually had our first child. The nursery remained empty for eleven years. You can imagine how much we doted over our little son when he finally arrived. Our long-awaited gift from God. We loved him with all of our hearts. It then took a further five years for Michelle to conceive again. During this second pregnancy, we naively wondered how we could love another child as much as we loved our son. When our second was born, however, our hearts overflowed with the same love as they had for our first. There was no distinction. We love them both passionately. Love is not a quantifiable thing. We didn’t love the first with all our hearts and then divide that love to share with the second. We love both of our children the same. Each one has captured our hearts more than they can understand. We can’t help ourselves. We love each one as much as the other.
If we, as imperfect parents, can love our children equally, with our total love, how much more does our Father in heaven love us with all of His heart? He does not divide His love among His children. He loves every one of us with His absolute love.
In the same way, when He looks at Jesus and says, “I love you.” He does this with all of His heart. So too, when He looks at you and me and says, “I love you,” this also is with all of His heart.
This truth seems almost too wonderful to grasp. Who are we that the Father should love us as much as He loves Jesus? Yet as marvellous and unbelievable as this might seem, this is the truth. The Father loves you and me as much as He loves Jesus.
Further reading: Jn 16:27; Jn 17:23-26
Spend a few minutes today to think about how much the Father loves Jesus.
Now let the truth settle in your heart that He loves you with the exact same love.
He loves you as much as He loves Jesus.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.