Learning to Love

John, the disciple of Jesus, was an exceptional man. In the gospels he is often referred to as, “the disciple Jesus loved” (John 13:23). Along with Peter and James, he made up that  small group that was at Jesus’ side on special occasions such as the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Garden of Gethsemane. John was the disciple who, exiled on the Isle of Patmos in his 90s, received a vision of the close of history, now read as the book of Revelation. Although in his earlier years he was designated a “son of thunder” (Mark 3:17), as time moved on, the depth of his spiritual insight became increasingly noticeable. I can hear him now as the conversation comes to a pause and in a voice, so affectionate and full of wonder, he ponders, “How remarkable is our Father’s love for us! Just think of it – he calls us his own children. Blessed be his name!” (1 John 3:1)
       And remarkable it truly is! How could it happen that we who flaunted his love by turning our backs to the one source of all goodness are now the recipients of such love! To love those who return affection is not difficult, but to love those who have rejected our love is quite another thing. It was in his Son, Jesus, that God disclosed precisely who he is. Before the incarnation people recognized God’s “eternal power and divine nature” in all that he created (Rom. 1:20), but with the coming of the Son, God has revealed his heart of love. The most simple, yet profound, statement ever uttered is this, “God is love.”
       And what does the fact that God is love and we are his children say about how we are to live? The obvious answer is that, like our Father, we are to be known for our love. God the Father has “lavished his love on us” (NIV) and as his children we have been enabled to love one another in the same way. And that’s why John goes on to state why the world doesn’t know us – they didn’t know Him.
       The full scope of our adoption back into the family of God will be that moment when Christ returns and “we shall become like him for we shall see him as he is” (v. 2). Our current desire to be like Him is often frustrated by what Paul describes in Rom. 7:15, ”What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Face it, we are still learning how to love, but when Christ returns the process will suddenly be complete, and “we shall be like him!”. What a glorious truth, what a life-changing expectation. Our rebellious nature will be totally transformed and we will love authentically, even as God loves.
       Do you long for that moment? Are you as tired as I am of our endemic failure to be all we long to be? Cheer up, God’s word clearly says that, “We will be like Him!” ­– freed from sin, enabled to love perfectly. No more rebel moments but a constant and authentic reality of loving as God loves. That’s what the text says: “We shall be like him!”