i am loved by GOD.

I see Your face in every sunrise...

"As my Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in me."

John 15:9

I am loved. Say it a little louder. I AM LOVED! not enough.

I AM LOVED!

That's better. Completely undeserved and incapable of sufficiently returning such love, this makes our mundane statements of love look like ignorant hatred. There is no greater, more perfect love than the love between the Father and the Son. Eternally co-existing with one another in perfect unity and glory. Now take a deep breath and listen to this: Jesus loves us in the exact same way.

Yeah. If that's not enough to choke on your tea, then I don't know what is. It's easy to say I'm loved by God, but that's not enough. My whole life needs to be affected by this unbelievable reality. 

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love,

just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.

These things I have spoken to you that My joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be full."

-John 15:10-11

Jesus promises that if we live like we are loved, we will have His joy, true, complete joy. We don't need anything else in this life apart from the love of God. We can be satisfied in God's love alone, and once we've grasped that, God's love in us will pour out naturally on others.

"This is my commandment,

that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no man than this,

that someone lays down his life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do what I command you."

-John 12:12-14

Love one another as I have loved you... this is how we live like we are loved by God. God has a perfect, unconditional love for us, so this is exactly what He calls us to do with each other. He does not say love one another until you make each other mad, then it's OK to give up. Sugar! He says love like He loves us. So many times I've offended and sinned against God and have given Him plenty of reasons to give up on me, but He doesn't. Thank God I am not loved the way I deserved to be loved! That's what He's called us to, selfless love. 

Oswald Chambers, in his book My Utmost for His Highest, says:

The first thing God does is to knock pretense and the pious pose right out of me. The Holy Spirit reveals that God loved me not because I was loveable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now, He says to me, show the same love to others--- "Love as I have loved you." "I will bring any number of people about you whom you cannot respect, and you must exhibit My love to them as I have exhibited it to you."

Let's live like we are loved, because we are. Perfectly.


God, may I love others by Your love for me, and not for my own selfish gain. May I live my life truly knowing that I am loved by You.