It was a good day, Father. Lots of things going on but the things that needed doing got done and we are settling down for the night. We are truly grateful for Your many blessings!

John 13:1 (<<click here to read the passage)

Well, I didn’t get far in this chapter! I had only read a few verses when I decided to go back and read the notes from the previous page before reading any further. The very first note pulled me up short making me take a hard look at myself.

First, here is verse 1.

Now before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that His hour had come [and it was time] for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. Having [greatly] loved His own who were in the world, He loved them [and continuously loves them with His perfect love] to the end (eternally). AMP

Now here’s the note from my study Bible.*

Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of his disciples, denied by another, and deserted by all of them for a time. Still he “loved them to the very end.” God knows us completely, as Jesus knew his disciples (2:24, 25; 6:64). He knows the sins we have committed and the ones we will yet commit. Still, he loves us. How do you respond to that kind of love?

Read those last couple of lines again.

It’s almost too much to take in! He knows how much we’ve hurt Him in the past – every single act of disobedience – and He knows, regardless of our repentance and the fact that we are forgiven and free from sin’s bondage, that we will hurt Him yet again…and again. Still…He loves us!

How in the world do I respond to that kind of love?

It’s difficult even thinking about it. There is not one of us that is anything close to perfect. I know I am surely not. I’ve shared before that in the past I have had the idea that my name has been erased and rewritten in the Lamb’s Book of Life so many times that I was sure that a hole had to have been worn through the page!

But as the study note said, He knows us completely, yet He still loves us!

Read through the verses mentioned in the note.

But Jesus, for His part, did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people [and understood the superficiality and fickleness of human nature], and He did not need anyone to testify concerning man [and human nature], for He Himself knew what was in man [in their hearts—in the very core of their being]. John 2:24-25 AMP

I hate to admit it, but I’d have to raise my hand in that I am, on occasion, superficial and fickle. Yet, Jesus knowing who I am to the very core of my being chooses love!

I don’t deserve it… I can work for it… I can’t even come close to paying for it… Jesus did it all! I owed what was due for my disobedience – death! Yet He paid it in full with His own life’s blood!

Lord Jesus, how do I respond to that kind of love? I must be determined to be more diligent. I must be more stalwart in my stand against temptation and sin. And even those things I cannot do in my own strength but must call upon You. That is the only way to victory! Amen!

*Application Study Bible New Living Translation

Aug 26th, 2021, Thurs, 10:00 pm