Dictations From The Spirit

1 John 3:1a: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us

One of the more amazing developments in the medical field over the last 30-40 years has been surgical procedures that transplant or replace certain organs or body parts. Knees and hips are regularly being replaced these days. Kidneys, livers, and even heart transplants have become commonplace – it’s truly remarkable. The underlying issue behind all these procedures is that the problem parts were either defective from birth or became defective due to the wear and tear of life. Something that wasn’t working as it should, needed to be changed out – transplanted with something that does work. The hoped-for result of this procedure is a better quality of life – free of the debilitating effects of something that wasn’t operating as it should.

The message of this verse, this chapter, this Epistle, and virtually all of the Apostle John’s writings is for us to receive, believe, and trust the love of God. As evidence of this claim, today’s verse tells us to behold what manner of the love the Father has given us. John is imploring us to take a step back and truly think and reflect upon the Father’s love for us. Have you ever tried that – to dwell upon God the Father’s love for you? If you’re completely honest with yourself, you’ll likely struggle with this – taking in, absorbing, grasping the love of the Father. There are 2 reasons why this is so difficult.

1) Being His creation – being finite, it is impossible for you to fully understand your Creator – the Infinite One. The Creator is always greater than the creation, so the creation cannot totally know the Creator.

2) Because of the love we have learned through our own human experiences is, by its nature, flawed and sin-based, it is impossible for us to comprehend the love of the Father – the agape love – the love of God which is perfect and holy.

If you accept these realizations, it becomes clear that the gift of His mercy, forgiveness, and salvation is acknowledging the birth defects and the wear and tear on my understanding of love. In other words, stepping forth in faith and following Jesus is, in effect, agreeing to Him performing a love transplant.

As each of us reflects on our lives, we probably can recall those people, those actions, those events that were sources of our learning to understand love – what it looks like and how it feels.  For some, these are comparatively good memories. For others, though, learning experiences of love were very painful – abuse, neglect, and/or a total absence.

Painful love learning experiences are bad enough by themselves, but the problem gets bigger as we bring these experiences into our adult relationships as spouses and parents. Without getting a love transplant from the Great Physician, we are infecting those whom are most dear to us– delivering a damaged love.

This is the essence of the Apostle John’s proclamation for us in today’s verse. The Father’s love is so different, so powerful, so life-changing that it can’t be equated to a human’s understanding of love. We need God to help us unlearn the damaged comprehension of love we all are born with and are subjected to – that is why we need Him to give us a love transplant.

Jesus said in John 17:26, “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.” He is telling us that those who call on Him as Lord and Savior have the same love of the Father as He does. With such strong assurance of the Father’s love, it gave Jesus the freedom to fully obey everything the Father asked Him to because He knew no matter what the circumstances of His obedience, they paled in comparison to the love of the Father. Look at what He accomplished with that assurance. Imagine what you can accomplish if you had the same assurance. He tells us we do. That is why we must behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us.