Love That Is Returned

John 14:23-27 - Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

I once spoke with a woman who had had a very lonely childhood. She was so starved for affection when she was little that she used to ask Jesus to come stay with her at night, to sleep next to her and comfort her when her parents were fighting. That image of His love got her through some very bad times.

One of the hardest things in life is when you believe, rightly or wrongly, that you are not loved. That's incredibly lonely. Jesus understands this need, and He offers us what our hearts long for—love that is actually returned. Jesus says to us, "If anyone loves Me, He will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ... And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."

Hear what Jesus says to us. Here is a Savior we can love who will actually return our love—who will come to us, together with the Father and the Spirit, and stay with us forever. The Trinity will never leave us, never throw us out of the house, never turn on us or hate us or give us the silent treatment. Instead, Jesus promises to make us part of God's own family. And He can make this promise, because it was His own love that reached out to us first, before we were ever born—when He came into this world to find us, to rescue us, and to bring us home to God the Father. He sealed our rescue with His own death and resurrection, and now there is nothing—not sin, not guilt, not shame, not unworthiness—that can ever come between us and Him again. We are His forever.

WE PRAY: Dear Lord, help me please to trust in You and relax in Your love, knowing that You will never leave me. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights reserved