As I Have Loved You

AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

a prayer to open

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

May your Kingdom come, may your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Jesus is our example of how to live for the sake of others. He shows us how to love—how to forgive, extend mercy, demonstrate compassion, be gracious and truthful. But sacrificial love like Jesus’ can be difficult for us. The only way we can become people who love naturally, sacrificially, and unselfishly is by abiding in his love. Unless we stay close to him, remembering we are beloved and safe, we will be unable to love others in the way he calls us. We will run out of capacity and reach the end of ourselves. With his love filling and fueling us, though, our eyes are opened to the lonely and hurting, our patience levels grow and we can be present to those who test our ability to love, and we become less focused on ourselves, putting others first.

• What images come to mind as you think about remaining in Jesus’ love?
• What attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors arise in you when you aren’t spending time in Jesus’ presence and being reminded of his abiding love for you? In other words, what helps you realize you’ve distanced yourself from him?
• Where are you low on capacity to love right now? Is there a particular person you’re struggling to love well? Are you losing patience with your family? Take a couple of minutes in God’s loving presence and ask him to center you on his love, remind you of your belovedness, and fill you with the love of Jesus.

Father, thank you for the love you’ve poured out for me in and through Jesus. Help me to stay close, to continually receive that love. I know that when I stay close to you, I am filled and able to love others well, yet I allow busyness and day-to-day tasks to steal my time. I allow worries to overwhelm me and doubt to crash over me. In your mercy, call me back to you; nudge my heart toward you again. Expand my capacity and patience so I can love others the way Jesus loves the world. Amen.