There are many Christians who deep down live with a strange split.<\/p>\n
We believe in God's love.<\/p>\n
We sing about it.<\/p>\n
We talk about it.<\/p>\n
We give thanks for it.<\/p>\n
And yet we often live as if we still have to earn something.<\/p>\n
As if we are indeed saved \u2014<\/p>\n
but still not quite sure how God really feels about us.<\/p>\n
That's why Jesus' words in John's Gospel are so overwhelming.<\/p>\n
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love.<\/p>\n
John 15:9<\/p>\n
It's one of those verses you almost read too quickly.<\/p>\n
Because if you really stop, it's almost too big to grasp.<\/p>\n
Jesus doesn't just say that he loves us.<\/p>\n
He says he loves us as the Father has loved him.<\/p>\n
That's not a small love.<\/p>\n
That's not a wavering love.<\/p>\n
That's not a love that rises and falls depending on how the day has gone.<\/p>\n
It's the love that has always been in God's own heart.<\/p>\n
The Father's love for the Son is eternal.<\/p>\n
Pure.<\/p>\n
Whole.<\/p>\n
Undisturbed.<\/p>\n
Full of joy, nearness, and delight.<\/p>\n
And Jesus says:<\/p>\n
This is how I have loved you.<\/p>\n
That changes everything.<\/p>\n
Because then you're not merely tolerated by God.<\/p>\n
You didn't just get in on a technicality.<\/p>\n
You're not just accepted with a half-hearted smile.<\/p>\n
You are loved.<\/p>\n
And not just a little.<\/p>\n
You are loved with a love that has its source in the very life of the Trinity.<\/p>\n
It means that God's love for you doesn't rest on your performance.<\/p>\n
Not on how well you've prayed this week.<\/p>\n
Not on how disciplined you are.<\/p>\n
Not on how spiritual you feel.<\/p>\n
Not on whether you feel worthy right now.<\/p>\n
Jesus' love for you doesn't come from your steadiness.<\/p>\n
It comes from his.<\/p>\n
That's why this is more than comfort.<\/p>\n
It's identity.<\/p>\n
Many of us live with old voices inside.<\/p>\n
Voices that say:<\/p>\n
You're not enough.<\/p>\n
You should be further along.<\/p>\n
You should be stronger.<\/p>\n
You should have gotten more of your life in order.<\/p>\n
But Jesus' words break into that darkness and say something entirely different:<\/p>\n
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.<\/p>\n
It means your life shouldn't first and foremost be built on how you feel.<\/p>\n
It should be built on what Jesus has said.<\/p>\n
Maybe that's why so many of us grow so tired.<\/p>\n
Not because we don't love God.<\/p>\n
But because we try to live for him without truly resting in how he loves us.<\/p>\n
We run.<\/p>\n
We fight.<\/p>\n
We serve.<\/p>\n
We try.<\/p>\n
But deep down there's still an uncertainty:<\/p>\n
Am I really loved?<\/p>\n
Jesus answers yes.<\/p>\n
Not a cautious yes.<\/p>\n
Not a temporary yes.<\/p>\n
A deep, eternal, and full yes.<\/p>\n
You are more loved than you think.<\/p>\n
And maybe the change in your life doesn't begin with you doing more for God \u2014<\/p>\n
but with letting it dawn on you how much he already loves you.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are many Christians who deep down live with a strange split.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fredagsartikler"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2847,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions\/2847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}