Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 17:23 “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.”
The world needs to see that God loves us with the same love that He has for His Son. How is that love known? It is known by the life of Jesus dwelling in us and loving through us in the same way that the life of the Father dwelt in and loved through Jesus. Do you realize how glorious this is?! The indwelling life of Jesus, who is the revelation of the love of God, has united all believers perfectly. It’s another way of saying that the love of Jesus is enough to satisfy our souls. Nothing can be added to make us more unified. Our love for each other is our glory. It is the glory of God for the glory of God.
This is precisely why we must not allow anything to divide us. If we allow anything to divide us, we take God’s name in vain. We bring shame upon His name. We provide a stumbling block to the world. For whatever that thing is—an opinion, a perspective, a value, a belief, a preference—whatever it is, it makes a mockery of the love of God revealed in Jesus and screams that the love of Jesus is a sham. A professing believer in Jesus Christ, cancelling, rejecting, and refusing to love another professing believer declares to the world that the idea that God sent His Son, who is love, to live in the hearts of men so they can reveal His love is not only a lie, but a gross, malicious deception. It preaches that Jesus was a liar and an imposter.
Have you allowed anything to separate you from another believer in Jesus Christ? Have you rejected the perfect bond of unity—the love of God for us all in and through His Son? Have you forgiven others like you have been forgiven by God on the basis of Jesus’ death for you? For God’s glory and Jesus’ name sake, drop whatever it is that you are holding on to, other than Jesus’ name and glory, and give the world a taste and testimony of the love and glory of God. Forgive and love your brother! Open wide your heart to him. Give him a place in your heart like Jesus gives you a place in His heart—a place of peace provided by His love. God wants them to know that He sent Jesus into the world and that He lives.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;”
What is the glory that the Father gave the Son that He gave to us so we can be one as they are one? We find the answer two verses later when Jesus said, “so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. The love the Father gave to His Son is the love that the Son gave to us so that we may be one as they are one. In John 15:9 Jesus blessed His disciples saying, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you, abide in my love.” Since we know that Jesus didn’t do anything apart from His Father, we know that it was the Father’s plan and command for Jesus to love us as He is loved by His Father.
Living to love with Jesus flows out of the love Jesus has for us, and that love flows out of the Father’s love for His Son and us. This love is the light in a world that has no enduring bond of unity. You can tell those who are His because they love the brethren, wrote John in his first letter in 3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.” And in 2:9-10. “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”
As Jesus loves us and we love others, the glory of God rests upon us. So when we love in Jesus’ name, we are manifesting the glory of God to the world. That is our chief end. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:21.2 ”That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
We don’t want to miss God’s plan in sending His Son. His plan was that the love the Father has for His Son, which unites them would be manifested to and through a select group of followers.These followers were so impacted and transformed as they received and believed the words the Father gave Him to give to them, so that they became channels of His life, love, and the gospel in the world. His use of the word world in this case seems to be the same as was John’s use of it in 1 John 2:2. “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” What is meant is this: In the entire history of the world, God has provided only one way, namely Jesus, for sins to be forgiven and upon whom anyone may believe and be saved. In Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21, Jesus was saying to His Father, that throughout the entire remaining history of the world, the community of believers filled and unified by His love, will be the convincing proof to everyone who believes that God sent Jesus as Lord and Savior.
A team of 8 guys on mission in Brazil for Global Challenge Expeditions were cruising the Amazon River. They and other passengers slept in hammocks on deck for over a week. They built a relationship with two men, one was an atheist and another was a new ager who believed that the universe is God. Opportunities arose for them to share their testimonies regarding Jesus and for the other two to also share their “testimonies” of “miracles” they had experienced in life. One shared how certain amazing things had happened “by chance” and the other shared how “the universe” provided for Him. They all testified of peace, hope, and faith they had found in Jesus, the universe, and in humanity. Finally, my friend provided the undeniable evidence that Jesus was God in the flesh sent to save mankind. He said, “You have watched us guys for a week. Have you noticed the love we have for each other? That comes from Jesus.” The other two men replied, “We don’t have that.” It isn’t something humans or the universe can provide. The love that unites believers testifies to the world that God sent Jesus. We live to love with Jesus so the world may believe that God sent Him to be their savior and Lord.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:21 ”That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
From before the foundation of the earth, God determined that by the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf, everything that separates us from God would be removed from us physically as well as positionally. The love of the Father and Son could not be contained in heaven alone. His love, by its nature, had to be revealed, known, and shared with, in, and through undeserving, sin-ridden, hostile, hell-deserving, grace-transformed outcasts. In this verse, we see the awesome, and I do mean awesome, vision of God for us and the means by which it is realized. The vision is that through the intercession of Jesus, God and redeemed mankind would become one to the same degree that the Father and the Son are one. We are indeed saved by His life. He prayed for this glorious end in His prayer in this verse, and then having been resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, He has received the authority to give eternal life to all whom the Father gave to Him. He ever lives to intercede for us and save us as it says in Heb. 7:25.
God has answered this prayer of Jesus, the Son. He prayed for our union with Him and the Father according to God’s will and name, the name of love. This is the basis of our identity as sons of God and the basis of our purpose for living. We are as united with Jesus as He was with His Father when He was sent into this world to love with His Father for His glory. Let this sink in! May this great truth overpower the darkness, as His light, which is His love, shines in this world through us today.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

Faithful and True (August 1, 2026 Blog) by Norm Wakefield