Remain in Love

John 15:9-11 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
 
ARE you in love with God? We don’t talk about loving God in that way, do we? It’s usually, “Do you love God?” or we might say, “I love the Lord God.” What does it mean to be in love with God?
   Picture the Garden of Eden. Everything in the perfect, holy Garden is of God’s love because God is love. Creation is good without blemish. Then God in his love added even more to the Garden. In love the Lord formed a union of love, which is the first marriage: Genesis 2:21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, the Lord God took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
   This first couple lived in the Garden in love with God. Adam and Eve fellowshipped with God. Face-to-face with their Father, the first couple were innocent of sin. They could fully savor God’s presence in the perfection of a holy union with each other and with God. In the Father’s love, all was under God’s will. Before the fall, Adam and Eve lived in a true love relationship with God. 
   We are called to be in love with God in the same way. God formed Adam and Eve to rule in the Garden in the Father’s love. Likewise, Jesus’ disciples are formed to rule on the earth in love with the Son and the Spirit as our guide. In love, God birthed Eve to be Adam’s helper. In love, God birthed a church to be God’s helpers on earth. In God’s love, Adam and Eve were formed to rule the perfect earth. In God’s love, disciples are formed to rule the imperfect earth toward God’s perfection.
   Adam and Eve did not remain in God’s love. Their shameless nakedness before God and each other became an object of their sin guilt. In love, Jesus came to restore mankind to a shame-free “nakedness” with God. In love, we receive the Lord’s commands. In love, we repent of our sins; we obey Jesus. We live in his transforming Word because we love him.
   Enter into God’s love and remain there. Love is why he’s formed you. Love is why he’s called you. Love is why he commands you. Remain in love with God and know his perfect love is for you.