Love believes all things.
"And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:26.
As I was reading and meditating on this verse, I began to see something I hadn't seen up until now. Jesus was praying to Father God and reminiscing about the things that have taken place with His relationships between Him and His disciples. He was praying for their unity, and ours, and how we needed Father God and Him in our lives so we could be one.
Then a question came that caused me to look at this verse more closely. Why did Jesus declare Father's name to His disciples? Of course, the answer followed and went like this, "that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." Pretty simple, yet, to me it was very profound.
It seems to me that many "Christians," those who believe in Jesus and have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior, approach God our Father in a super "religious" way. It's kind of like we could be so awe struck with Him and and how powerful He is, that we never really get "close" to Him to know His love. It's almost like we don't know how to "know" Him.
To me, Jesus was saying, here, that He declared Father's name to His disciples, then and now, so that Father's love could be in us and He in us. That tells me that our first response as a follower of Christ should be to get to know Father's awesome love, so that His awesome love would find its way in us.
In fact, it's His awesome love that gives us the authority and strength to become one. All of us, regardless of denominational backgrounds, doctrinal beliefs or spiritual dogma, that have accepted Jesus as Savior, are given the same goal, to become one with Father God and His son Jesus.
One thing I see that keeps us all apart is our not understanding, completely, the part of Fathers love that believes all things. It seems, that we, as a body of "believers" have a hard time believing in the good in other "believers" from different denominational backgrounds. We find that skepticism is an easier road to follow. We are skeptical because we fear our fellow believers. We think their views will forever damage our own personal views. Yet, it's this same perfect love that can only come with a personal relationship with Father, that has the power to cast out those same fears.
In 1 Corinthians 13:7 Paul writes that love, "believes all things." That's what Father God does for us. He believes in us. He believes we are going to persevere and push through to total freedom in Him, so we can become one, as the body of His Christ. He believes in us even when we let Him down. He never quits believing in us. He knows if we'll get closer to Him and believe in Him more and in the power of His authority in us to correct the things that would hinder us, we'll come through every hindering situation. He believes in us when we get angry with Him. He believes in us when we slander or hurt others. He never stops believing in us. Love believes all things.
Having a hard time believing in others? Go back and spend more time with the "Source" of love. He's got the answer as to how you can regain your trust in your fellowman. He's got something special He wants to share with you from His great "reservoir" of Love that will get you back on track to believe again. Don't go to Father talking about someone else and their faults and problems. Go to Him and discuss your own short comings so you can be healed and love again.
As far as relationships with each other goes, we learn in Ecclesiastes, "there's a time and season for everything." "There's a time to embrace and a time to cease from embracing." Sometimes we have to let go of our close relationships so Father God can do some fine tuning in all of us. He's got this "love" thing all together. God is Love. It's not that God just has lots of love to go around, He IS Love. If you're struggling with someone or relationships today, take some downtime and spend it with Love. He believes in you. He wants to be "complete" in You. Think about it.
In His Love
Timothy Maloney