At Home in His Love
Scripture
“‘I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done, kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
I’ve told you these things for a purpose, that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command, Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.’”
- John 15:9-14 The Message
This passage invites a simple but profound question. Are you at home in His love? Not just aware of it, but settled in it. Resting in it. Living from it. Jesus says, “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me.” Take a moment and let that sink in. The same love that exists between the Father and the Son, perfect and eternal, is the love Jesus has for you. It is steady, unwavering, and full.
“Henceforth Thy love shall be the only home of my soul: in Thy love alone will I abide.”¹
- Andrew Murray
Murray’s words are exactly the response Jesus is inviting. When this truth gets deep into your soul, it changes the way you see everything else. It makes sense, then, that Jesus commands us to love one another. He isn’t asking us to manufacture love on our own. He’s inviting us to receive His love so fully that it naturally overflows into the lives of others. When you are at home in His love, you are not loving from an empty place.
You are loving from abundance, from a heart that is continually being filled by Him.
And Jesus tells us this is the very best way to love. It is love that is genuine and transformative. It is love that gives, serves, forgives, and stays. It is love that flows from the One who laid down His life for us. When Jesus says, “Put your life on the line for your friends,” He isn’t giving an impossible command. He’s pointing us back to what He has already done. This is the kind of love we have received, and it is the kind of love we are called to give.
So let me ask you again. Are you at home in His love today? Are you resting in it, trusting it, and letting it shape the way you love others? Don’t just visit His love now and then. Make your home there. Stay close to Him, let His love fill you, and then pour it out on the people He puts in your path. That’s where you’ll find the full and lasting joy He promised.
Reflection
- What helps you slow down and become more aware of Jesus’ love for you?
- How might staying at home in His love change the way you love someone who is hard to love?
- Who in your life needs the kind of love that overflows from staying close to Jesus?
Prayer
Thank Jesus for loving you with the same love the Father has for Him. Ask Him to help you remain at home in His love and to let that love overflow into the way you treat others.
Footnote
¹ Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1864), Twenty-Second Day, “And in His Love.”
