Live to Love Scripture Encouragement John 17.11-12

John 17:11-12 “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” While Jesus was in this world, He had a job to do, namely, first, to manifest the name of the Father to those the Father gave Him and keep them in His name. This is revealed in vs. 6. Jesus said, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.” In vs. 12, we see second that Jesus also kept them in His name. He guarded them—that is, all that the Father gave Him. In these two verses, Jesus, knowing that He is leaving this world to go to the Father, has a request of the Father. He asks the Father to keep His disciples in His name so they may be one even as He and the Father are one. I have suggested that the name that Jesus manifested is love. I think this is confirmed when we notice that whatever the name is, it is what unifies the Father and the Son and will also unify the disciples. Love is the perfect bond of unity according to Paul (Col. 3:14). Therefore I conclude that the name that has been manifested and in which we are kept is the love of the Father and the Son for His own. Now let’s connect the dot of the glory of God that the Father and Son had before the foundation of the world. That glory is their love! Listen to what Jesus says only moments after these words. It is recorded in John 17:22-24. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” What is that glory He wants us to see? The love of the Father for the Son. So today, let us be encouraged by these words. Our Father keeps us in His love, the same love He has for His own Son, Jesus. As we live to love with Jesus today, we do so because of the grace of God bestowed upon us in giving us His Son. Jesus in us loves those He puts in our paths. We simply love with Him. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com