Another Love

Another Love

Read: John 16:25-28

“The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

John 16:27

“This is adoration; not a difficult religious exercise, but an attitude of the soul.”

—Evelyn Underhill

IN WORD This verse usually doesn’t surprise us at all, because we know, according to Scripture, that God is love (1 John 4:8). We would expect Him to love His disciples—and us. But if we read it carefully, it may surprise us that there seems to be a condition attached to God’s love. Jesus tells us that the Father loves us “because.” Doesn’t unconditional love mean God loves us, period? Why is our having loved Jesus first given as a condition of the Father loving us? Why is there this frightening “because” in the text?

In Jesus’ long discourse of John 14–16, He has been speaking up to this point mostly of agape love, that unconditional, noblest form of love by which God defines Himself and the community of His believers. But here, Jesus switches terms. This is the phileo kind of love, the brotherly affection that characterizes true friendship. God loves (agape) everyone in the world; but He has a genuine, enthusiastic intimacy (phileo) with those who have affection for Jesus. It is not unconditional. It is a very human kind of love, and God took on a very human form to have it with us. Amazing, isn’t it?

IN DEED We often love Jesus because we ought to, not because we just can’t help ourselves. And we should love Him this way. Agape is the only kind of love that stands firm when circumstances shift. But we should love Him with pleasure, too. God means to be enjoyed.

What kind of love do we have for Jesus? Is it only the agape love—noble and purposeful, but sometimes lacking in the warmth of friendship? Or is it the phileo kind of love as well—an irrepressible affection for One whose presence we actually enjoy? If we believe in Jesus—lovingly and enthusiastically—we experience the kind of love that comes from the heart of God not only because it is right, but also because it is enjoyable. Cultivate both kinds of love. Enjoy the blessing of God’s affection.