...You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
I always stumble over this. I remember the first time I read these words and doubted that the translation was accurate. Or maybe I was reading the part of that prayer that applied to the disciples (John 17:6-19)....But no, it is in the part that applies to all believers (John 17:20-26). Even to me.
So maybe I should check another translation? OK...here goes.
King James: ...that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.
New American Standard:...that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You loved Me.
New International:...to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
New Living: ...Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.
New Century:...Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as much as you loved me.
Contemporary English:...They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.
New King James:...that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You loved Me.
Message:...that you've sent me and loved them in the same way you've loved me.
OK. They seem to all say about the same thing. But how can it be? How could God truly love us (even me) as much as He loves His Son? That is just not possible!
But does He lie? No.....
And then look at verse 24:...You loved me before the creation of the world
Well, I knew that part. That God loved His Son before time began, before there was anything else....but does it mean He has loved us (even me) since then -- forever -- also?
Even when He pictured my life, fast forwarded it to include all the awful, dirty, stinky things I would do...how I would reject Him, deny Him, disobey Him...He could see all that and still love me with His never-ending, unlimited love?
Here's some words from my old friend, C. S. Lewis...
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.
But God wills our good, and our good is to love Him (with that responsive love proper to creatures) and to love Him we must know Him; and if we know Him we shall in fact fall on our faces.
If we do not, that only shows that what we are trying to love is not yet God--though it may be the nearest approximation to God which our thought and fantasy can attain.
Yet the call is not only to prostration and awe; it is to a reflection of the Divine life, a creaturely participation in the Divine attributes which is far beyond our present desires. We are bidden to 'put on Christ,' to become like God.
That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want. Once more, we are embarrassed by the intolerable compliment, by too much love, not too little.
That's from The Problem of Pain.
Am I embarrassed that God loves me so much? Now that I think about it, I suppose I am. At least I say the words shyly, as if I am saying to someone, "I know this is hard to believe but...really... God truly loves me.....I know it doesn't seem possible, but He loves me as much as He loves His Son...I mean really..."
And then that person will look at me and think...."Wow, she's really gone off the edge...her elevator doesn't go to the top....she is a card or two short of a full deck...."
But nevertheless, our God, who cannot lie, tells us that He loves us, just as He loves His Son!
So, get hold of it! Move on! Count on it! Take it to the bank! Move on!
And again I say REJOICE!!!!!
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