Remain part 1
I think this is an important concept, because it seems like people think love is conditional... like there's a flower and we're picking the petals off. "God loves me... He loves me not..." And we think those flower petals are our actions. "I mess up... and He loves me not." And its like we're just hoping and praying we end up on "He loves me." I'm here to tell you that that is NOT how love works. Love is unconditional. The Apostle Paul wrote a whole piece about how nothing--NOTHING--can separate us from the love of Christ. But there's a difference between "knowing" something, and KNOWING it. The difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge. We sing, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." And that's not a bad place to start, because faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. But what we need to learn how to do is ABIDE in His love. Trust His love. Wrap ourselves up in it and let it not just be a PART of our life... but let it BE our life. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. Love IS life. Look at John 15:4 in the NLT, "Remain in me, and I will reamin in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me." I think that's the key: REMAINING in Him, even as He remains in us. Getting rid of the "He loves me, He loves me not" mindset. And getting to the place where we can rest in His love. In the King James version of the Bible John 15:4 uses the word, "abide." It is number 3306 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it literally means, "to stay. Continue, dwell, endure, be present, remain, stand, tarry." This same word is used a few verses later in John 15:10. Which also tells us HOW to abide, or stand, or remain, in God's love. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." And then, just so there's NO question about what that commandment is, Jesus goes on to say, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12). And then He says it again a few verses after that, "These things I command you, that ye love one another" (John 15:17). My point is... in the Old Covenant there was an external law filled with dos and don'ts. The ten commandments. But Jesus IS the New Covenant. And He has one commandment: Receive and release His love. So, I think these dots are easy to connect: Jesus said we cannot be fruitful unless we abide in Him. And then He said in order to abide in Him we have to obey His commandment. And then He said His commandment is to love others as He loves us. So in order to abide, or remain, in God's love... we simply need to give it away. We remain in His love... by loving each other. And we love God by loving each other. He loved us first and all we have to do is return it to Him by giving it to each other. Receive it and release it. And I'm convinced that that is the best way to FEEL love. Not by what you get, but by what you give. Because you can't give what you don't have. So if you give love... that means that you know and believe (at least on some level) that you HAVE love. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but in order to remain in God's love you have to give it away. To the natural mind that's backwards. But... love IS giving. God gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus gave His life for us, and to us. And now that we know that we ARE loved... we CAN love. We can stand in Him. Abide in Him. Remain in Him!