⁹ “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

Flowing love, from the Father to the Son, and now to us—why would any believer not want to abide in Christ’s love? Jesus’ love for us is exactly the same kind of love that the Father has for Him. It is perfect, unblemished, and flawlessly fulfills the 1 Corinthians 13 description of love:

Love is …

patient, love is

kind and is

not jealous;

Love …

does not brag and is

not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly; it

does not seek its own, is

not provoked,

does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but

rejoices with the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails.

This is the kind of love the world needs now. Love does not, as the famous movie quote goes, mean never having to say you are sorry. Rather it means never doing anything that requires an apology, because love always has the best interests of the other person in mind. God desires for us, as Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that “you … being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:17-19). Words, inadequate as they are in describing Christ’s love, serve to catapult us into higher contemplation of what we mean to Him. He gave His all to save us from a lost eternity, but even more, He gave His all to redeem us for His own. How much more does He love us now that we are His and He is ours.

Lord, help me understand more fully the perfect love You have for me.