"Even as you loved me."

"The glory that you have given men I have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." - John 17:22, 23


What a profound statement!

Jesus Himself declares His desire for people that are in Him to be united to the point of resembling the Father and Son; perfectly united in mind and heart. So we obviously need to strive to live in unity with each other, living lives of love toward each other where we are known as Christ's disciples by the way in which we love each other (John 13:35).

However, the statement that I would like you to focus and meditate on is the last part in bold. Jesus wants the world to know that God the Father loves the people to whom Christ's sacrifice has been offered, AS MUCH AS he loves Christ himself, the perfect God-man!

Just think about that. What an amazing God we serve, who makes Himself known to us in such beautiful, but mysterious ways.