How does the Lord Jesus Christ see us?

Imagine a father having four children. The firstborn has business experience and is a good businessman, while the youngest is the wrong kind with an uncultivated character. The second born is a good and well-cultivated family person and the next one is a less sociable but creative person. Let us also imagine that he is going to a distant location for some years and he advises them to look after each other, as family.

 

When he comes back, after years of exile, he finds the firstborn wealthy enjoying material life without his brothers; the youngest child is damaged, broken, and in prison; the family man is sick and poor; and the other son is isolated without wife and children. What is worse is that they see each other as distant relatives without love and unity. The rich demand respect, the outlaw demands independence, the isolated do not want to see them at all, and the family man complains that he has no family. What units them is they hate each other and they don’t want to see each other at all. They have love and association with strangers of their kind, but not with each other. He left them as family, yet he found them isolated and damaged.

 

How will that make him feel as a parent of those adult children? That would be a simple disappointment. Now imagine he is much wealthier than all, sociable than all, respected than all, creative than all, energetic than all, and powerful than all. How would he manage the family and his inheritance? He will carry on his shoulder the most damaged ones, which are the criminal and the isolated sons, to transform them into new persons, with love and care, in a short period. He will quickly take them to the ICU, intensive care unit, for behavioral medicine and recovery. He, however, will demand love and loyalty to their brothers; otherwise, he will tell them they have no future with him. He can tolerate any of their failures for some time because they have been damaged for years, but not hate of their brothers.

 

He will address the medical and economic problems of the mature son. But he will be equally angry with both older sons, the wealthy and mature brothers, because they abandoned their socially handicapped young brothers rather than loving them unconditionally. He will rebuke all, because they did not stand with each other, unconditionally, and he will be disappointed as he has no mature son to be like him. They will come up with a list of things about what is done by who, to accuse each other. Yet, he knows all sinned and are wrong, so he will focus on building forgiveness and unconditional love from now on.

 

He will advise them to be united as one by covering the failures of each other, with unconditional love. When one is in prison, all of them have to visit him; when one is sinning, all of them have to counsel and rebuke him with love; when one is sick, all of them have to look after him; and when one is wealthy, all have to love him independent of his wealth and what they expect from him. He expects them to stand firm as one strong family and that strength is for their welfare. They will be wealthier, more respected, more feared, less isolated, and less sinful as one. He just wants what is good for them, and he will back this word with his more abundant wealth, wisdom, connection, and power to make them the shining light on the hill.

 

Now, however, though they are many, they are few; though they have wealth, they are poor; though they have good fathers, they are shameful and sinful; though they have family, they are isolated and lonely. This is because they are not obedient to the will of the father and they are selfish and self-centered than unconditional lovers of their families and also their father. Would such a father invest in the future of those damaged children? The father has every reason to abandon them if his love is conditional. Though he has the wrong kind of children, he, however, is the right kind of father, fortunately.

 

That is why the father made a big celebration of reconciliation and forgiveness by selling a very expensive jewel that he loved the most, to show them he loved them this much and more. He told them that he did forgive their failures and allowed them to have a fresh start. Besides, he insisted from now on that he will train them to be right and what they have to do is obey him by following his will. He will also remind them that their old ways did not take them anywhere good; but if they deny themselves and follow him, he will make them perfect sons and perfect human beings. Finally, he stated, that the one who wins by following his commandment will have a higher share of what belongs to him.

 

What the father wanted was nothing but children who looked like him. Some will have more of his wealthy nature, some will have more of his sociable nature, some will have some of his creative nature, and some will have his vibrant energy. His purpose is to unite them so the wealth of the rich can be a good life for all, the wisdom of the wise can be light to all, the creativity of the isolated to be adaptive solutions to all, and the vibrancy of the youth the muscle for all. He does not expect them to be like that just now but to grow toward that with his guidance. In this process unconditional love is critical. It is not to love brothers when they are good and beautiful only, but also when they are evil and ugly to win darkness by light. It is being light that lights more and more in darkness to defeat the darkness around it through unconditional love.   

 

The children have one option, which is to deny their sinful nature and to dress in the holiness of their father, to be like him. Otherwise, those children are not children of their father but the world around them. Their father is wise, but they are fools. Their father is wealthy, yet all are poor. Their father is sociable, yet all are isolated. Their father is holy, yet all are sinful and murderers of their brothers. They don’t belong to their father and they have no future in their father’s house and the associated inheritance. Is this too complex to understand? This is how the Heavenly Father sees us. As damaged children who do not look like him.

 

So, we have to be one body as faithful. This does not mean meeting every Sunday and saying hi. It means becoming one solid family that meets every time, cares for each other, supports each other, teaches each other, helps each other, and so on. Can this be done just like that? No. It is a spiritual growth process. You start by knowing a few and having nice communication with them over time. Then after, you have to slowly increase that number, while increasing the depth of the relationship with existing ones over time. Love has to exist in the assembly and it has to grow over time. That love has to be unconditional. You love them not because they are lovely, but you love them because the lord loves you when you are definitely ugly. Be like your father to inherit his kingdom.

 

Don’t fool yourself, without love all is worthless. Your faith is worthless without love. Your hard work and dedication to the faith are worthless without love. If you love the lord, you have to keep his commandments. If you claim to know him, you have to walk in his footsteps. When the Heavenly Father sees us, he does not see the ugly us but the beautiful Jesus on us. When you see your ugly and intolerable brother, look Jesus on him. Love him not because he is lovable but because you love the lord. If you cannot love the brother you see, how ugly and hateful he is, how can you love a Heavenly Father you never see? Defeat his hate and darkness with love, unconditional love. Don’t give an opening to the devil to divide and conquer you, but be united with unconditional love for the glory of the Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father does respect those who respect him and do despise many fold those who despise him. According to your measure will be given to you. The safety net you extend to your brother’s failures is your safety net on the hand of your Heavenly Father. With this road of unconditional love and forgiveness, the gates of heaven will be widely open to you and you will be fruitful.

 

You are not asked to die on the cross, to be boiled in oil, to be crucified upside down, to beheaded, to be given to the lions, to be tortured, or to be burned alive for the faith as giants of the faith did in the past, just love your brothers and sisters, and your love has to grow over time. Is this too much to ask for a God who came from his heavenly throne to die for you? God does not see us as the independent people that we think we are, but as one family of God, who are born again in spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for the glory of the Heavenly Father. Love is the key, and love is more than saying hi and how you doing every Sunday. That is a religious routine and a joke for sure. When somebody is your boss or you have business with, how flexible and tolerant you will be toward that person. If we do this for food that never lasts, why is it hard to do for food that will give us eternal life? How valuable is heaven for us? Can we enter heaven without love? Unconditional love is our master key to heaven and that love has to grow until we are one body of Christ.

 

Our faith is not faith of religious ritual, where you do some routine things to “inherit” eternal life. Our faith is a living faith of love, unconditional love. Our faith is a way of life and that is the only way of life to salvation. Your life has to be transformed into an image of the Lord Jesus Christ and the salt and light of the lord has to shine bright in your life. Your transformation into the image of Jesus is a louder gospel that backs the gospel that you preach by your words. The requirement that we need to be transformed by the spiritual growth process to unconditionally love brothers and sisters is the minimum requirement for salvation by faith. Without love, all is worthless.

 

You give 10% of your income for the faith, but without the love of the brother next to you, real love and care, it is worthless. You pray for 10 hours, but without the love of the hateful brother, it is worthless. You work 24/7 to evangelize the gospel, if you don’t care about your brother, however, it is worthless. Your religious routine is worthless, if your love for people around you is not alive and growing. Without love, you are playing a childish character in a drama of faith but you are not faithful. If you are faithful, love God with all your heart, soul, and energy, and reflect that love by unconditionally loving your fellow faithful and that love has to grow in size and depth. This is the last commandment of the Lord and this is one of his last prayers of the lord. 

We say we are saved by grace as we believe Jesus is lord and the Heavenly Father is our father, as a result. If God is our father, however, where is his respect? If Jesus is our lord, however, where is our obedience to his commandments? If we don’t love our brothers and sisters around us from the depth of our hearts and we still claim we are faithful, we are liars and Jesus does not know us. As faithful, the first thing that we must do is unconditionally love our fellow faithful and that love has to grow over time until we are one, as the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are one.