It is believed that the Gospel of John, chapters 13 through 17 cover a short period of about 36 hours of the life of Jesus Christ, prior to the Garden of Gethsemane experience. It is a short period, but boy is it an important one for us to keep in our minds and hearts. Heavenly Father inspired John to devote a lot of time to these precious moments, so we have no other choice but to believe God intends them to be carefully cataloged in our knowledge of His Son. These chapters are so meaningful to me personally because I believe they not only reveal the heart of Christ, but chapter 13 is pivotal because it conveys a love upon which our spiritual growth and purpose must be anchored. If we follow certain aspects of the example of love that Christ set in these verses, our lives and our relationships will be transformed.
When we think about loving folks to the very end, death or mortality comes to mind. While it may be a part of the example Christ set for us, he would much rather we love people to life than love them to death. Jesus Christ had a very short window of time to accomplish God’s mission on earth. Our minds and hearts are incapable of comprehending all that he packed into the three years of his ministry, and that’s why these scriptures are so precious, because even though we can’t accomplish what he did, he left us incredible traces of his path to follow. One of those traces is what it means to love to the point of completion.
Many women yearn to be loved by a man so completely that their hearts are full. They want to be confident in a man’s loyalty and fidelity, because we all understand that strength and unity are drawn from a quality kind of love. There’s an old adage that a person can’t draw water from an empty well. You and I don’t have the capacity to love beyond the level that we believe ourselves to be loved. A person that doesn’t believe anyone loves them will not wholly and completely love others, because in their hearts they believe their well is empty. God loves the person that feels unlovable, and He wants them to open their hearts to Him, so He can give them a quality kind of love they can pass on.
Often our relationships become stale or broken because we need a greater revelation about the love of God in Christ, so that we can truly love those we care about. God has already blessed us with the capacity to love deeply. We have the ability, and we need to be taught and led by the Holy Spirit to activate what God has placed within us. As we invite the Spirit to work in our hearts, the love of Christ will be rooted deeper. This is what gives us a greater ability to spiritually discern how we can best minister to those we love. We will not just react in anger or displeasure when they do something we don’t like. Holy Spirit will reveal the heart of the issue and help us to minister in a way that brings God’s healing and love to them. Again, this comes from learning more about our Savior’s love.
Only the love of Christ can fill our cups. He loves us completely, and the knowledge of this helps us love others unconditionally and unselfishly. Jesus Christ said in John 15:13(NLT), “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This is how much Jesus loved the disciples, and it is the depth of his love for us as well. He loves us beyond the completion of our redemption. It is a love that is never ending, unconditional, and unfailing. The more we accept his love in our hearts, the greater we can love others and ourselves.
John 13 tells us Jesus knew that God had given him authority over everything. He knew who he was and that he would be returning to the throne. He was also fully aware of the suffering he would endure, but that wasn’t his focus. John 13:4 tells us that he took off his robe, wrapped it around his waist, and poured water into a basin. He began to wash the disciple’s feet. There is no greater act of humility among humanity than this. Peter was incredulous at the thought that his Master Jesus would wash his feet. He no doubt felt it was beneath Jesus, but love in its purest, most powerful form would not neglect to reveal itself through humble service to the end. Peter protested in John 13:8(NLT), “No…you will never ever wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” Once our Lord and Master explained to Peter that the fulfillment of his purpose had to be complete in this way, Peter responded “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”
A pure, undeniable, and incorruptible example of love was left by Jesus Christ. It far surpasses every synapse, every brain cell, every emotion, feeling, and attitude achievable in the human experience. Nothing we can conjure on our own can reach the depth of the love of God in Christ. He calls upon us to be totally washed by it through the Holy Spirit, and to have a total and complete dependency on Him.
God’s demonstration of love defies definition and exceeds all boundaries. He is love and His love is fulfilled through Christ. This means that God fulfilled the requirements of love so completely that there can be no question about what we mean to Him. Eternity has no end, but God traveled there, and saw the finished work of who we would become in Christ. Ephesians 1:11 tells us He predestined that we become the person He saw. Jesus Christ gave his life so that we could be all that God destined us to be. He loved us to the very end of his existence on earth. He finished his course, and because he did, we can now have the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Every moment of each day, we must be guided by the Spirit, so that we can leave a lasting impression of God’s love for others in the same way that Christ left it for us.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Love to the Very End” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.