Yesterday we ended with this thought… (If you missed it, click here.)

Jesus loves me with 100% of His being just as the Father loves Jesus with 100% of His being. But just knowing that fact doesn’t do us any good. We must be obedient to the rest of the verse.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

Today, I want to dig a little more into this verse.

Dictionary.com says the word “abide” means to remain, or to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc.

Jesus is encouraging us, to live our lives in the abundance of His love. Instead of trying to fill our hearts and minds with the things of this worldly kingdom in which we live for now, we must choose to turn our attentions toward Christ. We are not abiding in Christ’s love if all we enjoy of it is an hour or two on Sunday and five minutes reading a chapter of the Bible before bedtime. We must devote time and energy to our relationship with Christ, but in order to do that properly, we must come to a better understanding of how much He truly loves us.

I challenge you to take some time today to get alone with God. Meditate on God’s love for Jesus and then think about how Jesus demonstrated His love for you by setting aside His heavenly kingdom, to be reduced to a single cell implanted in a young woman’s womb, to grow in wisdom and knowledge, to suffer persecution and ridicule by those He came to save to finally die on a cross to pay the penalty of your sin. I encourage you to really think about that today. And don’t let these truths stop at the precipice of your mind. Allow them to infiltrate your heart. Let the power of Christ’s love root out your bitterness, your insecurities and your passions for worldly pleasures.

Consider these additional truths from Scripture in your meditation as well.

You are valued.

You are a one-of-a-kind creation that He designed to bring glory to Himself. You are a product of Jesus’ incredible creativity. Psalm 139:13-15 says, “For thou has possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise the; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”   The ESV says “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. Verse 15, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.” You were not an accident. You were not a mistake. You are a collector’s item! A highly prized, carefully crafted, individual created down to the tiniest detail by the Master Weaver who knitted all of the parts together to create a beautiful treasure.

Jesus thinks about you all the time.

Psalm 139:17-18 says How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. Picture each individual grain of sand contained in one little Styrofoam cup. You could never count them all! Then multiply that by all the sand on all the beaches, in all the oceans and in every little child’s sandbox all around the world. That’s how much Jesus thinks about you and MORE! And he isn’t thinking bad thoughts. It says his thoughts are precious. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts (plans) that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end (a future and a hope). He has a plan for your life-a future full of hope.

Jesus wants the very best for you.

James 1:16-17 says Do not err (or do not be deceived), my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness (meaning change), neither shadow of turning. If there is something in your life that you desire but God hasn’t seen fit to provide for you, you have to trust that it isn’t a good thing for you at this point in your life.

This verse is also a good test to determine if the things in your life are truly from God or if you are headed down a path for you that is unwise. It says that all good things come from the Father of lights. When God is involved in some part of your life it will bring joy to your heart and the light of his spirit will shine through you to others. If you are involved in something questionable, your natural instinct will be to hide it. To keep to the shadows. Satan is the prince of darkness. He thrives in things done in secret. If you are involved in anything that you would be ashamed for others to know about, something that you are trying to hide, then it’s not a good thing and it is not from God.

Click here for Part 3 in the series.

Photo credit: VinothChandar / Foter.com / CC BY