I am surrounded by great friends and people who are very Biblically literate. Some time ago I wrote about misspoken truth. I mentioned that even though I did not think there was a Scripture verse proposing that our Heavenly Father loved us as much as Jesus, I did believe it was true. However, I got an email clarifying that there really is such a text. It is John 17:23 in the very words of Jesus Himself. I am delighted to be corrected. It isn’t that I have never read John 17. It is just that verse didn’t stay cemented into my memory. So I thank my scholarly friend and pass on to you what has to be one of the most wonderful verses of Scripture. God loves you as He loves Jesus. In the words of a younger generation, “That is totally awesome.”
“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
Now the issue is did I not remember because of advancing age or did I not remember because I wasn’t paying good attention the other times I read John 17. I hope it is the latter but I fear the first. Then there is the chance that the Holy Spirit was saving it for me. I like that reason the best. I have noticed that I can read Scripture over and over and each time something new comes to my consciousness. My friends tell me that is also true for them. So read the Gospels again and again. There is always something wonderful to discover.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 7, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA
rogerbothwell.org