Apicontent

I was out for a walk in the neighborhood with my four-year-old grandson when he turned to me and said, “God loves me and that is the most importantest thing.”

I cannot think of a statement that is more profoundly true. The grammar may not be correct, but the content is. God loves us; that is truth at its foundation. And it is “the most importantest thing” that we believe and embrace this truth.

“God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). He is the source and supply of all things that are good: mercy, forgiveness, kindness, compassion. Love begins with God. God loves us, not because we did anything to deserve it, but simply because it is His nature to love. He values us. He longs for us. He has our best interest at heart.

That is the truth. But, in order for God’s love to become real in our lives, we need to believe it. The only requirement to receiving His love is that we—with trusting, childlike faith—believe. When we believe in God and accept that He values and cherishes us, we come to see Him as He really is. And, as we come to see Him as He really is, we come to be like Him—to radiate His nature of love.

As a human like us, Jesus—the Son of Man—had to know and trust in God’s love for Him. To share God’s love with us—to show us the Father’s heart—Jesus too had to believe in His Father’s love. It was through this unbroken, loving relationship that the Father’s love had perfect expression in the Son. Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does” (John 5:19–20).

Trusting His Father with total assurance of His love made it possible for Jesus to live a life of love. His Father was the source of the love Jesus radiated in His life. Over and over again, Satan tempted Jesus to choose His own will over His Father’s. But in every trial and temptation, the Son trusted in His Father—and radiated God’s love to the world.

In the passage for this lesson, we hear the Father introduce Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I love.” Jesus let these words define Him, not only at His baptism, but also in the wilderness temptations and throughout His life. He believed and trusted in His Father’s love.

Read Matthew 3:13–4:11, below.

Chapter 3
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
(Chapter 4)
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Questions

Reflection

Get alone in a quiet, peaceful place. Perhaps you have a favorite chair where you like to sit and look out the window. Perhaps you have a special tree you like to lean against as you watch the sun set or the clouds floating by. As you sit in your special place, ask God for a deeper understanding of His love for you.

After you have sat for a while, hear the Father’s voice saying, “This is my son/daughter, whom I love.”

Receive these words as best you are able. If you feel yourself resisting the words in anyway, try to discern the reason (lie/fear) behind your resistance. Give the lie/fear to God and hear His words again, “This is my son/daughter, whom I love.”

Repeat as you feel God directs.

People everywhere are desperate to experience God’s overwhelming, never-ending love. The popularity of Cory Asbury’s song, “Reckless Love” is evidence of this deep longing. The song was posted to YouTube on January 19, 2018 and six months later the video had been viewed over 36 million times! To view this song, go to the Forever Loved website (Forever-Loved.org). The song’s refrain reads:

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.

Our heart longs to know of God’s unfailing, unconditional love. Every person’s heart has a raw, gaping hole that can only be healed and filled with the love of God. But even though we long to be loved deep in the core of ourselves, our old Adam nature does not easily accept the love God freely offers. Our minds are not programmed to receive it. And so, like a radio tuned to the wrong frequency, we completely miss the signal.

When Adam sinned and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it was as if he turned the dial to the wrong frequency. He cut himself off from a loving Spirit-to-spirit union with God and chose instead to be led by his own mind, will and emotions—by his own soul. In this state of separation, God provided a set of rules to guide the independent soul. Through Moses, He gave the Ten Commandments and other laws to clearly define good and evil according to what was best for humanity. But the law did not come with the strength to obey its own commands. The independent soul, cut off from Spirit-to-spirit relationship with God, simply cannot follow the rules; it wasn’t created to. Adam’s independent, sin nature can never inherit the promises of God.

As part of the human race, we inherit Adam’s nature. We are born with our dial set to the wrong frequency and cannot hear the love of God. Instead we listen to the static of the world and think we must work hard according to our own knowledge of good and evil to try and obey the law in order to earn God’s favor, blessing … and love. 

But Jesus made a way for the dial to be reset to the proper channel. The New Covenant that Jesus introduced is not based on law; it is based on love. In the New Covenant our value and worth are based—not on our doing good and avoiding evil—but simply in being loved by God as His children. Amazing as it sounds, He loves us unconditionally and always.

In the verses for this lesson, Jesus introduces us to God’s extravagant love. He tells the story of the lost sheep to help us change our minds so that we begin to see God as He really is—full of unconditional love for us. Like a good shepherd watches over his sheep and seeks out the one who has gone astray, so God cares for us.

Read Luke 15:1–7, below.

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.
2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Questions

Reflection

Imagine that you are a little lamb who has wandered away from the flock. Now you are caught in a tangle of brush and night is falling. The Good Shepherd notices that you are missing. He puts the others safely in the pen for the night and sets out to find you. He walks along searching and calling your name into the darkening shadows … (your name) … (your name) … (your name).

When He sees you, His face lights up in a smile. His eyes sparkle with joy over finding you. He kneels on the ground in front of you. Then with gentle, caring hands, He removes you from the brush. He lifts you up in His strong, safe arms and lays you across His shoulders …

Ponder this experience.

One day I was reading Sheila Walsh’s little book, Outrageous Love, when her words made me stop. “God’s love doesn’t play by the rules…. It offers unconditional love to the one who knows [he] she is guilty and the one who thinks [he] she is innocent.”

How true! God’s love doesn’t play by the rules. It doesn’t fit with the way our Adam nature is programmed to think. God loves us unconditionally, regardless of what we have or haven’t done. Yes, He wants us to be good and do right, but He doesn’t love us more if we do good things or less if we do bad things.

Even as Christians, after we accept Jesus by faith and are born again into Spirit-to-spirit relationship with God, our soul oftentimes still keeps looking for “good” things we can do to earn God’s favor and love. We easily fall back into the trap of being led, not by the Spirit, but by the independent soul—with a New Testament version of “good” rules to be followed. Under this way of thinking, we either know we are guilty because of our obvious sin or feel we are innocent because of our self-righteousness. Obvious sin causes us to feel guilty and undeserving of love so that we reject God’s forgiveness and compassion. On the other hand, self-righteousness and pride stand in the way of us receiving the love God offers us as a free gift. Deep inside, many of us still think like the Pharisees—like the hard-working, older brother. We try in our own strength to be “good” by church standards. And in doing so, we think we are better than others and have somehow earned God’s favor, blessing … and love.

But Jesus did not come to bring us a new set of laws to be obeyed. In the New Covenant, we don’t work and strive to be obedient in order to be loved and accepted. Rather, we live our lives from a position of knowing and believing the love God has for us. We are of infinite worth to Him. When we see Him as He really is—full of love for us—we will run repeatedly into His welcoming arms … until we learn to abide in His embrace.

In the text for this lesson, Jesus tells the parable of the lost son and his older brother to help us understand our Father. Both of the sons think of themselves as deserving or undeserving based on their behaviors—according to their obedience to the law. But the father only has love for both of his sons.

Read Luke 15:11–32, below.

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Questions

Reflection

Scripture tells us that “We all, like sheep, have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). This includes straying like the younger son (who was aware of his sins) and straying like the older brother (who did not recognize his sins). Acknowledging that we have gone astray is the first step toward reconciliation.

Reread verses 11–24 putting yourself in the story as the lost son. Perhaps a specific sinful or self-righteous action or thought comes to mind. Now you are ready to share that with your Father. Now you are returning home.

In your mind see your Father coming to welcome you … tell Him everything … and receive His joyful welcome.

Mother Teresa showed her understanding for the deep need of every human being when she said, “Hunger is not only for bread. Hunger is for love, to be loved, to be wanted.”

When she was 38, this devout nun left her job as a teacher at a Catholic girls’ school and began working amongst the poorest of the poor on the streets of Calcutta, (now officially Kolkata) India. Her goal was not to prolong life, convert people or help individuals escape from a life of poverty. Her desire was simply to unconditionally love people with the love of God. Mother Teresa understood that the deepest need of the human soul is to be loved.

God is love and we were created to be in unity with Him. But Satan opposes that. through our inability to obey the commandments of the law, he thunders, “Guilty!” “Condemned!” “Sinner!” “You are unworthy of God’s love!” With intense fury the devil seeks to keep us from believing in the love of God. If our minds can’t believe it, we won’t be free to live loved and be the people God created us to be. And so, using the law as his impossible-to-obey measuring stick, Satan rages on with his legalistic attack.

Jesus came to renew us in spirit, soul and body. He came to show us a new way of thinking and living—in Spirit-to-spirit union with the Father. His desire is for our soul (mind) that thinks and lives by the law to be transformed, so that we think and live in love. Seeing Jesus’ person-to-person interactions with broken humanity helps us be transformed in this way.

In John chapter 5, when Jesus heals a lame man, we get a picture of our Father through the compassionate actions of His Son. We see God’s heart as Jesus reaches out to this lame man lying helpless on his pallet. Then, when the Jews confront Jesus over the healing, we see how they used the law to directly oppose the love of God.

Read John 5:1–20, below.

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
[4]
5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry
your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again.
Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.
17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”

Questions

Reflection

Put yourself in the lame man’s place. You are helpless on your mat beside the pool. For 38 years you have lain there—lonely and uncared for. Thousands have passed you by … but Jesus stops … He bends down … He looks into your eyes … with compassion He speaks, “Do you want to get well?”

Allow your heart to respond as the scene unfolds in your mind.

Pope John Paul II once said, “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us.”

Do you believe it? Can you personalize his words and say, “I am not the sum of my weaknesses and failures. I am the sum of my Father’s love for me”?

Our struggle to believe in the truth of God’s great love for us is the battle of the ages. Old Covenant versus New Covenant, the scribes and Pharisees versus Jesus, law versus love—it is the war of wars. From Adam’s fall until this present hour the fight rages. What rules in our hearts and minds? The old way of soul-leading through the law or the new way of Spirit-leading through God’s love?

When we are born into this world, we inherit Adam’s sin nature that thinks according to the knowledge of good and evil—according to the law. It isn’t that we were taught the wrong thinking; it is more like we caught it. We caught it from repeated early experiences with parents, caregivers and others who caught it from their parents who caught it from their parents … clear back to Adam and Eve.

Such early patterns of thought are not easily changed. They can’t simply be replaced with facts—regardless of the truth of those facts. We can’t experience God’s love as a fact. We can’t experience His love by reasoning. For example, when we read in the Bible, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,” we may think, God loved the world. I am part of the world. Therefore, God loves me. But this reasoning is still only a fact. God wants us to know the fact of His love, but for change to occur in our lives, we must also experience His love through a personal relationship with Him.

Over and over again we need to experience the essential truth that God values us beyond comprehension. In relationship with God and others who share His love, our minds and hearts are transformed. God’s love becomes real to us so that our whole nature and way of thinking changes.

In the text for this lesson, Jesus’ interactions with a woman caught in adultery shows us God’s love in a powerful, relational way that speaks to our hearts. The scribes and Pharisees bring the woman to Jesus. The law says she should be put to death. But Jesus responds with forgiveness and compassion … while at the same time turning the law back on the scribes and Pharisees … so they might consider their own sins … and need for a loving Savior.

Read John 8:2–11, below.

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Questions

Reflection

Imagine painting a picture of the law. What does it look like? If there are people present in your painting, consider their expressions and hidden attitudes.

Now imagine painting a picture of God’s love. What does it look like? Consider the nuances of shading and color. If people are present in your picture, reflect on their expressions and the feelings behind those expressions.

Sit with these two contrasting images. Let the painting of love overshadow the painting of the law.

Billy Graham once said, “God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”

With these simple words, one of the greatest evangelists in the modern era summed up the heart of the Gospel. How clear. How pure. Jesus came to share God’s love with the world.

The way of life Jesus lived and taught is fundamentally different from all other world religions. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists … all believe that humans are expected to follow certain laws or traditions in order to earn favor with their deity. But Jesus does not demand or even suggest that we, through self-effort, obey a set of laws, even if they be of God’s design (as were the Ten Commandments). He desires that we come into a loving relationship with Himself—that we are born-again of the Spirit. Only then, by change on the inside, will our lives come into conformity to His design.

God created humans to have a spirit, a soul and a body. Before the fall, Adam and Eve’s spirits were in perfect connection with God who is Spirit. Through Spirit-to-spirit connection, the first couple received from God all that was needed for life.

But in the fall, Adam broke spirit connection with God. By eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam chose his own will over God’s. He chose to be led by his own soul. After the fall, the soul—the place of our mind, will and emotions—was in charge. But God didn’t create the soul to lead us with its knowledge of good and evil—by following good rules. God created the soul to be led by the Spirit. He created us to live in complete Spirit-to-spirit unity with Himself.

In order for God to restore humans to the life they were created to live, we first had to be “born of the Spirit.” Once God brought life to the spirit, living by faith—living through a relationship with God—could begin.

In the Scriptures for this lesson, Jesus doesn’t just show us God’s love. We are actually given an invitation to join Him in a loving relationship. God’s love and way of life is for everyone. And so Jesus explained to Nicodemus—He explained to a Pharisee—about being “born again.”

Read John 3:1–17, below.

1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Questions

Reflection

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law. Yet he came to Jesus because he recognized that God was with Him.

Think back to when you were first drawn to Jesus. Relive that time in your life. Recall your fears and hesitations. Recall your joy. Recall His faithfulness.

As you remember this time in your life, let your heart sing to God in praise.

“God created us to love and to be loved.”

“The most beautiful thing in the world is to love one another as God loves each one of us.”

“We must not be afraid to radiate God’s love everywhere.”

Mother Teresa not only spoke these words; she lived them. She loved people with God’s love. People dying forgotten in the streets, disabled children left abandoned, those shunned because of leprosy or AIDS, Mother Teresa cared for those others had forsaken. Regardless of age, sex, race, religion, illness or mental ability, she had compassion on them. And Mother Teresa knew that our love for others flows out of God’s love for us.

This truth may be clear to you, but it wasn’t always obvious to me. For the first 40 plus years of my Christian life, I falsely believed that loving God and others started with me—by my obedience to the law. I thought God was demanding that I love Him and others in my own strength. I had twisted something Jesus said about the Old Covenant law and thought it applied to me. Let me explain.

When a Pharisee came to Jesus asking, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36–40).

These two commands sum up the Old Covenant law. And like all Old Covenant commands they are impossible to obey in our own efforts. The independent soul, cut off from Spirit-to-spirit relationship, can’t love God or others as required. We can’t produce the love. We weren’t meant to. God designed us to radiate His love, not to generate our own. The New Covenant makes it clear that “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

In John chapter 13, Jesus gives His new command to fulfill the Old Covenant commands. First, He shows the new command in action—by washing the disciples’ feet. Then He says: “A new command I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Read John 13:1–17, 31–35, below.

1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.
13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” …

31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.
32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Questions

Reflection

Sit in a quiet, comfortable place and put your bare feet into a stream, lake, tub or container of water. Imagine Jesus coming and washing your feet.

Sit in quiet openness to Jesus’ love for you. Hear His words of life to you: “I love you. I love you. I love you. Love others as I have loved you.”

Imagine Jesus’ words bringing life to your spirit, soul and body. Imagine yourself freely receiving from God and overflowing with love for others.

Respond to God’s love by letting His love in you flow out to all those who come across your path today.

When I was young, my mother taped a hand-written note to the refrigerator door: “God doesn’t love us because we are good. He makes us good because He loves us.”

As a teenager growing up, I couldn’t believe those words. They seemed too wonderful—too amazing. I wanted to believe them, but I just couldn’t.

But now I know they are true! This is the freeing truth our souls long to know; it allows us to become the good people God created us to be. Incredible as it sounds, God makes us good as we live in His love.

In His love we become good and right from the inside out. As we dwell in God’s love—as we abide in it—the love of God we know in our Spirit-to-spirit relationship with Him becomes real to our soul as well. We believe the love God has for us, and our soul—our mind, will and emotions—comes into alignment and agreement with our belief. Then our body manifests the soul’s loving nature to the world. In this way, God’s love pours through our spirit-soul-body channel, flooding the earth with His goodness.

God designed us to abide in His love—to let His love permeate our being so that it flows out of us to others. When we remain in His love, we bear fruit—we radiate the nature of Christ. Fruit of the Spirit is God’s nature expressing itself through us. Scripture tells us, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23). In this way, as God’s nature bubbles from us, the world sees Christ through us—just as it saw the Father through the Son.

In the verses for this lesson, Jesus uses the analogy of the vine and the branches to illustrate how God planned for us to live. We are branches; we live and bear fruit only because of our connection to the vine—Jesus. The Old Covenant is about abiding by the law. But the New Covenant is about abiding in love. Jesus says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9, NKJV).

Read John 15:1–13, below.

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Questions

Reflection

Get alone with God. Imagine yourself as a branch. The vine is strong and supportive. Hear Jesus saying to you, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

Imagine the life-giving sap flowing from the vine into you. You are coming alive and flourishing in the life of the vine. There is no greater love. Feel yourself receiving the continual flow of God’s love and all it brings to you. See yourself giving the same. Others are nourished by the fruit of the Spirit coming through you.

Respond to God’s love as He guides.

Around 190 AD, St Irenaeus wrote, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” Think about that quote. What is glory? What does it mean to be fully alive?

When Moses asked God, “Now show me your glory,” God responded by saying, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence” (see Exodus 33:18–19). The glory of God is the same as the goodness of God, which is the same as the loving nature of God. We glorify God when we live abiding in His love and take on His loving nature. It is a whole new way of living life on earth.

Many Christians today understand that eternal life in heaven is completely a gift of God’s grace given to all who believe in Jesus. But when it comes to living life on earth, all too often we fall back into relying on a mix of God’s grace and self-effort. We have our own “good” laws that we try to obey: go to church, read the Bible, pray. But, even with a born-again spirit, the soul, with all its knowledge of rules, can never make us to be “good” as God designed. God has a grand and glorious plan for our lives on earth. He wants to share His glory with us!

We believed to receive eternal life. Can we also believe that we are meant to live our lives on earth filled with the glory and loving nature of God? That promise may seem too good to be true, but it is just as much a part of God’s plan as eternal life. God created us to radiate His glory—to manifest His love. In the beginning, when God created Adam, He said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). We were created in the image of God!

Paul states it clearly. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:29–30). Then, a few verses later, Paul expounds on God’s love—the basis for all of His promises to us.

In John chapter 17, Jesus prays for those promises to become a reality in our lives. Jesus asks for us to be like Him in this world. He prays that we would be in unbroken relationship with our Father—just as He has been. He asks that the love of God would be in us—just as it was in Him. And Jesus petitions His Father that the world would see God’s love through us—just as it has seen it through Him.

Read John 17:18–26, below.

18 “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we
are one—
23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25 Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.
2 6I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Questions

Reflection

Jesus prayed this prayer on the night before His crucifixion. Imagine that you are with Him on that night.

See and hear Jesus praying for you. Read your name into verses 21–26 of the prayer. Or have a friend read this part of the prayer to you with your name inserted.

That (your name) may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May (your name) also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given (your name) the glory that you gave me, that (your name) may be one as we are one—I in (your name) and you in me—so that (your name) may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved (your name) even as you have loved me.… Father, I want (your name) to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world…. I have made you known to (your name), and will continue to make you know in order that the love you have for me may be in (your name) and that I myself may be in (your name).

Let Jesus’ prayer come to rest within you and find expression in your life.

My heart sings along with the opening lines of the song “Worthy Is the Lamb”:

Thank You for the cross Lord.
Thank You for the price You paid.
Bearing all my sin and shame
In love You came
And gave amazing grace.
Thank you for this love Lord
Thank you for the nail pierced hands …

(To see and hear a recording of this song as performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, visit the Forever Loved website, Forever-Loved.org.)

Such unfathomable love that Jesus would take our place and die a sinner’s death on the cross. And so we respond, “Thank you for this love Lord.”

Truly we see the love of God in the life and death of Jesus Christ. Throughout Jesus’ life, in the stories He told, in the healing He performed, in the life-giving words He spoke and in the prayers He prayed, Jesus showed us the Father’s heart. And, as He faced death, we see the price Jesus paid to make a way for us to live in God’s love.

On the night before Jesus’ death, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Satan came against God’s Son in raging fury. If the devil could cause Jesus to act apart from the will of His Father—by the leading of His own soul—Jesus’ union with His Father would be severed. The Son of Man would fail the test and humanity would remain led by the soul—in bondage to the law. But Jesus chose His Father’s will over His own. In this way, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus regained for us what Adam lost in the Garden of Eden. Through His love, as proved on the cross, Jesus made a way for us to live again in the perfect love of God.

In the passage for this lesson, we hear Jesus’ agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…. My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Even though His soul was overwhelmed with grief, the Son of Man gave up His will and trusted in His Father’s love.

Love won!

Read Matthew 26:36–46, below.

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.
44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.
46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Questions

Reflection

Each member of the Trinity loves us perfectly. The Father sent His Son (see John 3:16). The Son gave His life (see John 15:13). And today, the Holy Spirit makes God’s love real in our hearts. Romans 5:5 says, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Imagine the love of the Father giving His Son. Think of the love of Jesus dying on the cross.
Imagine the Holy Spirit pouring that love into your heart … Your heart is filled … God’s love is flooding out of you to others …

Ponder and receive … to overflowing.