“I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:26
Christianity is not a religion but a Person. The experience of that Person, the knowledge of His character and the grasping of His ways, is LIFE. The Lord Jesus tells us in John’s gospel that “…this is eternal Life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” (17:3) This statement puts Christianity in a realm all of its own, for the essence of it is knowing Someone, communing with that Person, loving and serving that Person. It is therefore certain that those who know Christ best, and most, are not necessarily the rich, the well-off in society, or those who have risen through the ranks of men to become in the eyes of men, something great and worthy to be worshipped or honored. No, those who know Christ best are those who resemble Him most, for one becomes like the company he keeps, especially the company of those, or whomever, is infinitely worthy. To have been in the company of Jesus for three years, like the apostles of old, would earn for them the description by their accusers, that they were those who had “…been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) Because of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, after the resurrection of Christ, these disciples of Christ began to resemble Him. They began to speak as He spoke, with the power and authority of the Spirit of God. They began to demonstrate the compassion and love of God, as did Christ, in that they lived to serve God, and minister Life to those around them.
But what was it that dominated them, that motivated them to go on, face opposition and persecution, to preach the Gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth? It was one dominating aspect of Christ. It was not only a concept that they had to learn, and grasp, but the very real, and powerful presence of Christ in their hearts by the Spirit. The Spirit of God began to constrain them. In fact, the Apostle Paul would specificallly write to the Corinthian church: “For the love of Christ constraineth us.” (2 Cor. 5:14) In the Old Testament, the godly men would be moved by the Spirit, or stirred up, motivated by the working of the Spirit. After Pentecost, the very love of Christ by the Spirit was in the hearts of the believers. They would be transformed from within by the Spirit, the love of Christ being the greatest manifestation of the Life of Christ in their lives. But how can this be? Somewhat like Nicodemus of old, who could not grasp that a man must be born again by the Spirit of God, to enter into the kingdom of God, so the believers through the ages are called upon to look beyond the question of “how,” to the fact of a promise realized, accomplished. The Father had poured out His Spirit upon all flesh, and Christ had come to indwell the heart of every believer of that day, and now. The love that Christ demonstrated to the world at the time when He walked on earth, is the same as the love in every heart where the Spirit of God dwells. How important is this?
When the Apostle Paul wrote concerning the fruits of the Spirit to the believers in Galatia, he began the list of the fruits, or manifestations, of the Person of the Spirit of Christ, by declaring that love was the foremost. This he would emphasize and make so very clear in speaking of loving being the greatest of the three things: faith, hope, and love. Jesus would give the command to His disciples prior to His crucifixion: “Love one another.” And finally, He would address the Ephesian church in the book of Revelation saying , ” …you have left your first love.”
The love of Christ comes in response to believing prayer, God’s love to BE in His disciples.
Dear Father, Love through us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.