I Want to Know What Love Is

Love is the gift of self. It's expressed in humility, service, surrender, obedience, and sacrifice. Jesus humbled himself, became a man, and washed feet. Jesus obeyed the Father, surrendered himself to Caesar, and offered himself on the cross. We don't want to be a Foreigner to this kind of love!

Phil. 2:6-8, Mark 10:45, Luke 22:42, John 3:16, John 5:19, John 10:18, John 13:5, John 15:13, Eph. 5:2, Rom. 12:1, 2 Cor. 5:21, Gal. 2:20, Titus 2:14

One

In John 17, Jesus prays:

I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. (v. 11)

I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. (vv. 20-23)

“One just as we are one.” How is that? What is our prayed-for oneness being compared to?

I wonder if it might look something like this?

Or this?

I see unity. I see individuals. I see movement that’s movement together and movement inside of together (often described as a dance). When the Apostle John invites us into koinonia fellowship with one another and with the Father and the Son (1 John 1:3), might this be a way to see it?

On Authority

We live in a world of competing ideas about reality. To advocate for a particular viewpoint is to submit to a particular authority. It should be obvious from this site, but I accept Jesus as my ultimate authority, and I do my best to understand reality from his life and teaching. We have been handed The Royal Law: love God and love others, or love God by loving others.

That being the case, I don’t expect everyone else to accept Christ’s authority over their lives (except for those who claim to be Jesus-followers). That’s their choice to make.

But if you are advocating for a viewpoint that’s different from mine, please share what authority stands behind your view. And if you are an authority unto yourself (“you do you”), don’t be surprised that I don’t accept your authority for myself. Why would you?