Jesus’ Love For Me…
by David Roberts
Countless times I have found lists in the New Testament that I decided to try to make into a type of New Testament ten commandments. Just as many times, I have failed to accomplish what I set out to do. After years of failure, you can imagine my frustration.
Maybe some of you can relate to my history. With the help of John the disciple and a new understanding of the grace of God freely available to all, I found a way that works for me. The grace I mentioned actually came mostly from John’s Gospel.
Five times John refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” In these few words is a secret I know I needed to help me into freedom from works (in, if not of, the flesh) and into a true experience of the first fruit of the Spirit: love.
1 Corinthians 13, the famous love chapter, is the perfect example. After struggling and struggling through this “list” of the definitions of love—true,agape, God love—and failing again and again, the real meaning of John’s claim finally hit me. It’s far more important to spend time recognizing that Jesus is the only person who ever loved perfectly and demonstrates this love for you and me every day, if we will accept it. Today, the following is how I read the definition portion of the love chapter. Try it!
1Co 13:4 Jesus’ love for me suffers long,and is kind; Jesus’ love for me envies not; Jesus’ love for me vaunts not itself, Jesus’ love for me is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Jesus’ love for me does not behave itself unseemly, Jesus’ love for me seeks not its own, Jesus’ love for me is not easily provoked, Jesus’ love for me thinks no evil;
1Co 13:6 Jesus’ love for me rejoices not in iniquity, but Jesus’ love for me rejoices in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Jesus’ love for me bears all things, Jesus’ love for me believes all things, Jesus’ love for me hopes all things, Jesus’ love for me endures all things,
1Co 13:8 Jesus’ love for me never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:13 And now abides Jesus’ gifts to me of faith, hope, agape love, these three; but the greatest of these is Jesus’ gift of love for me.
In case some of you miss the point, remember that this disciple, who accepted Jesus’ love for him, was (of the original disciples) the only one present at the foot of the CROSS! Only Father knows where our acceptance of true love will lead.
David Roberts is a retired English teacher who now spends time studying the Scripture and writing. He is the husband of Karen Roberts, the editor of Daily Devotionals.com
