Remain in Love | Qualities of Women Who Trust Jesus

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” —John‬ ‭15:9‬ ‭NIV‬

The world offers mixed signals about love. It is romanticized and worshipped in Hollywood, yet the stars who perform on screen struggle in real life to demonstrate what love is. Broken relationships, dysfunctional families and ugly scandals seem to be the norm.

Who can blame them? Love is complicated. We think we understand it, know what it feels like, then the bottom falls out beneath us and we’re back to questioning the people we love, questioning love itself. A wrong look, a hurtful word, a painful misunderstanding and we wonder, does this person really love me?

We simply cannot refer to the world around us for a definition of love, but we can’t really consult our own hearts either. They deceive us into thinking we need something else in order to be happy, which then causes us to behave in very unloving ways so we can satisfy our desires. Again, complicated.

But then we hear Jesus’ words in John 15 and He makes it seem so simple, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” If Jesus loves us in the same way He is loved by the Father, how does this kind of love work? Let’s look at 3 scriptures to define it for us.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

God’s love is sacrificial. He commissioned His precious Son to leave the safety and glory of Heaven for us. Jesus experienced personal loss— loss of reputation, loss of comfort, loss of dignity, loss of life— so that we could gain eternity with Him. The self-giving aspect of His love is incredibly humbling to receive and incredibly challenging to give.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life… neither the present nor the future… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

God’s love is strong. Death itself, the most formidable force we face, could not keep the Father and the Son apart. When Jesus rose on the third day, love conquered sin and death once and for all (Romans 5). God’s love is unbreakable, made of the most durable substance to hold us together and keep us close to Him. [Side note: this passage in The Message version is awesome. Check it out here!]

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1).

God’s love is everlasting. It goes on for… EVER. Not like a cute Best Friends Forever, but rather it actually keeps going into an endless number of days. It doesn’t stop or come to the end of its rope. Nothing can slow it down or terminate it. His love is not like the love we observe between people because it’s perpetual, meaning it doesn’t ebb and flow, swell then fade. It remains the same— consistent, continuous, without fail.

These three aspects of God’s love give us deeper insight into Jesus’ words in John 15. This sacrificial, strong, and everlasting love is what sustained Jesus everyday of His life on earth. Being human is hard! It’s confusing, painful and disorienting. Jesus experienced this first-hand and can empathize with us (Hebrews 4:15). He walked through all the limiting, difficult parts of life: hunger, thirst, exhaustion, temptation, betrayal.

But he was held together by the Father’ love.

Jesus remained in the Father’s love through obedience, and He calls us to remain in His love through the same means. “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” (John 15:10).

Sister, I know you get mixed signals about love. You have moments when you question the love of the people in your life and you question the validity of your own love for others. God’s love is stronger than all of it, and it’s here, holding you together in this very moment. Remaining in His love means remembering who we are as women who trust Him— women who are grounded in His word, who walk in obedience to Him, and who are held together by His love.

For Your Journal

Find It:

In this portion of your journal, write out a Bible verse. You can find a verse that fits a current life situation or use the one we used in today’s devotion.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” —John‬ ‭15:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Fix It:

In this portion of your journal, pull out a few key words from the verse you chose above, or summarize the verse in your own words. Write it in pretty lettering or sketch something that will help you visualize the meaning of the verse and fix it in your mind. Repeat these words to yourself throughout the week to remind you of the truth contained in the scripture. Here are some options:

Remain in LOVE

Feel It:

In this portion of your journal, write out a prayer. The goal is to absorb the meaning of the Bible passage and let it take root in your heart. Ask the Lord to let his word change you by the power of his Spirit so that you begin to feel like the new person you’re becoming in Christ. Surrender any areas of your life that you are trying to control.

Jesus, thank you for experiencing the craziness of human life and for being an example of what it looks like to remain in the Father’s love. Thank you for living a life of obedience to the Father and empowering me by your Spirit to do the same. Help me to not be shaken by the unsteadiness of the world around me, but to be stabilized by the power of your love. Help me to walk in obedience today, and by doing so, to remain in your strong love. Give me strength to love others in the same self-giving way you love me. Amen.