Am I “remaining” in God’s love, and can I say that my joy in Him is complete?

9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

INSIGHT:  We hear people say often that God’s love is unconditional, and no doubt that is what we want to hear, but is it really?  In Scripture, God’s love, as far as it relates to our benefitting from it, is in fact conditional, based first on his own election (Rom 9:13) and second based on our obedience to Him (v.10).  God’s offer for love, to those of the elect that choose to receive it, may in fact be unconditional, meaning that by His mercy, He is willing to forgive any sins you previously committed, so as not to allow any condition to remain between you and His initial offer of redeeming love to you.  However, our remaining in His love, and thus benefitting from it, is very much conditional according to Jesus.  In verse 10 above, Jesus said that the condition for Him to remain in His Father’s love was obedience to His commands.  Jesus also said another condition for His father’s love towards Him was Him laying down his life (John 10:17). Jesus then tells the disciples that the reason (condition) God loved them was because they loved Jesus (John 16:27).  According to Christ, God’s love is clearly conditional, no matter how much it may be offensive to our human understanding.

And even if God’s love was unconditional to every person on this earth, what good would it be if they never benefit from it, beyond the common grace which God gives even to the wicked (Mat 5:45)?

Think of the prodigal son.  Even though he rebelled against his father, ran away to do his own will, squandered his inheritance, and no doubt committed much sin, He was still unconditionally loved by his father, but he was no longer remaining in his father’s love, or benefitting from it. To benefit from his father’s love, he needed to confess and turn from his sin, and humble himself before the authority and will of his father.  Had he not done this, the love of his father, no matter how great, would have been totally worthless to him and would have never benefitted him in any way.  In other words, what good would it have been for him to be loved by his father, since he would have never received any good from it?

With childlike humility, we must accept that Jesus commanding us to remain in his love (v.9), implies that it is quite possible for us NOT to remain in his love at some point, even after we may have previously believed in Him and loved Him very much. 

To teach that God’s love is unconditional, is to teach people that they can continue to go their own way, living a worldly and sinful life, with no worries that God will ever stop loving them, reject them, or send them to hell.  This is a terrible lie and cannot be found among any of the teachings of Jesus Christ, or the apostles, but only among false teachers.

Paul commanded that we keep ourselves in God’s love (Jude 1:21).  We keep ourselves in His love by obeying.  The Bible clearly says God’s love language is obedience (1 Jn 5:3). We can only expect to attain God’s very best presence and blessings for us, when we obey Him.  We will suffer much to obey the Lord and it will indeed be a sacrificial love we give to Him at times, but this is how our joy is made complete. 

Years ago, a close friend admitted to me that he didn’t have real joy and didn’t perceive God’s love for Him like I did.  The reason was that he was keeping a pornography habit on the side.  There was no doubt that God still loved my friend, but that sin was blocking God’s affection and blessings towards him.

It can be a bit confusing because as you mature, you get to a place where you no longer need to feel God’s love or felt presence, because your faith has grown beyond sensation.  But often, in the early stages of our walk, it is God’s disciplining of us when we suddenly don’t feel his love or presence.  Like a check engine light on our dashboard, He is often trying to let us know that something is wrong and needs to be fixed before something worse happens.  We have grieved His Spirit. 

Are you remaining in His love?  He has all the grace you need to do so, so ask Him today and believe.