Scripture Reference: John 17:23
On a recent trip to Galveston, Texas, I was standing on the balcony of my hotel room on the fifth floor, enjoying the brisk winds, watching as the ocean responded to the winds. The water rapidly gathered into large waves, crashing onto the shore, then quickly receding again into the ocean. On the shore, between the sands and the sidewalk were low walls that had been built by the city officials to keep the water within a certain boundary whenever the tides are high to help prevent flooding. I watched the vastness of God’s creation as the waters came up on shore and then back again to form a perfect collection of water. I began to reflect on God’s beautiful creations and as one of His creations, how He loves us, and has expressed His love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. A love without boundaries and able to break through barriers.
God the Father, announced His love for Jesus during His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration stating, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5). Beloved indicating loved; greatly loved; dear to the heart (KJV Online Dictionary). In Jesus’ Intercessory Prayer for us to the Father in John 17:23, He prayed, “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” Jesus wanted us to know and experience the same love from the Father that He had received. Just as the Father loved Jesus, the Father loves us. In fact, God loved us so much that He initiated His own rescue plan for us, by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for our sin so that we would not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16-17).
Just like man erect barriers to halt the natural flow of the “intruding waters” from the ocean, we also build barriers (striving, hiding, wearing masks, status, independence, positive thinking without the Word of God, stuffing issues, isolation, whatever behavior the system we are attached to rewards). These barriers, created as a response to life situations (unhealed emotional wounds, disappointments, abandonment, rejection, abuse, unforgiveness, generational issues, trauma, shame, fear, etc.) block our freedom and ability to see God as He is, thereby hindering our ability to receive the fullness of God’s love. So instead of receiving and relying on God’s love to bring the healing and deliverance we need, we stay stuck in our self-erected barriers, blinded from the truth.
The love of the Father is already appropriated to us. God’s love is unconditional and it is given to us freely. The life issues we experience and the facades/barriers we create can never change Who God is or His love for us. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). His nature is to love. He changes not (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8). When we confess Jesus as Lord and invite Him into our hearts, we are in Christ (John 3:16, Romans 10:9-10). God chose us in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, and He has made us accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:3-6). Just as He loves us unconditionally, He desires that we receive His unlimited love unconditionally.
Prayer
Father, in the Name of Jesus, forgive us when we have mistaken life’s events and how others have wrongfully treated us, as an example of your love for us. Help us to know You and to receive Your love, which is unconditional and without boundaries. Thank You for accepting us in the Beloved. Transform our thinking and renew our minds as we walk as Your Beloved in Christ Jesus. In Jesus Name. Amen.