Part One: The Profound Impact of Being Perfectly Loved
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His own Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10.
Of the 12 men who knew Jesus best, followed Him the longest, and expressed their loyalty to Him the most, only one was within view of the Cross when He gave up His Spirit and breathed His last breath.
Only one.
A disciple named John. (John 19:26)
Rather than asking why the others would leave Him, which is easy to understand if we’re honest about our own nature, I want to ask how the one who chose not to leave Him had the courage to stay?
John answers that question himself in the first letter that bears his name:
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:18-19
This was first demonstrated at the Last Supper after Jesus announced that someone would betray Him that same night. Filled with confusion, the other disciples became distressed at the thought. But not John. Seated at His right side, he leaned over on Jesus and asked Him for insight on who it would be, and Jesus revealed it to him.
How did John have such a confident response?
John understood what the other disciples were yet to discover. More than any other disciple at the time of Jesus’s death, he knew how much Jesus loved him. In his Gospel, it’s widely accepted that John calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, 20:2, 21:7, 21:20). This was not a prideful statement, but one of confident humility flowing from a holy revelation. John found he had a special place in Jesus’s heart, and when you are loved perfectly, the response is a more perfect love.
John stood beneath Jesus’s nail-pierced feet at the Cross because he had leaned on His love-filled chest at the table.
When he was much older, he explained that the source of perfect love for God is the perfect love that first comes from God.
My friend, if you’re struggling to find the kind of love that causes you to take up your cross for Christ, meditate on the perfect love that caused Jesus Christ to take up His Cross for you!
Such As I Have,
Nathan Caparolie
In this series, “In This Is Love,” we look at the true nature and expression of God’s love for us and how it shapes our love for God and others.
To discover more about how God’s love can transform your life, click here.
