The Daily CHEW™
Moving God’s Love from Head to Heart for Christian Professionals
Why This Matters for You
You may accept, at least on paper, that the Father loves the Son. You’ve read John 17, heard the baptism story, maybe nodded along in sermons about the Trinity. But when you hear Jesus say that the Father loves you “even as” He loves Him, something in you pulls back.
Part of the struggle is this: most of us don’t actually have a clear, concrete sense of how intense, unshakable, and joyful the Father’s love for Jesus really is. If God’s love still feels vague or thin—like a holy version of polite tolerance—it’s hard to imagine that love changing your actual Monday.
This post is about slowing down to see how deep that love goes. Not just that the Father loves the Son, but what kind of love it is: eternal, limitless, fixed, joy-filled, self-giving, and shared. The clearer that comes into focus, the more John 17:23 stops sounding like religious exaggeration and starts sounding like a promise that can actually move God’s love from head to heart.
The Gospel Meets You Right Here
In John 17, Jesus pulls back the curtain on the life of God. He prays, “You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24, ESV). That means the Father’s love for the Son is older than galaxies, older than angels, older than time itself. Love is not something God “started doing” when He made people; love is who He is in His own triune life.
When the Father’s voice breaks into history at the baptism—“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, ESV)—He is not trying to work Himself up into affection. He is revealing what has always been true: the Son is eternally and infinitely precious to Him. That love is:
- Personal: “My beloved Son”
- Enjoying: “with whom I am well pleased”
- Public and unashamed: spoken out loud, for others to hear
Later, Jesus says, “I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” (John 16:32, ESV). Even as the cross approaches, the Father’s presence does not flicker or fade. The mission is costly, but the relationship is not fragile. The Father’s love is not a mood that swings with circumstances.
Here’s the staggering step Scripture takes: the same Bible that speaks of this eternal, mutual, joyful love between Father and Son also says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, ESV), and that “the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5, ESV). The Spirit doesn’t drip a thin sample into your life; He brings you into the very current of that triune love.
Here’s the surprising way God’s love changes your story: John 17:23 is not announcing a different kind of love for you, but your inclusion in this love—the eternal, joyful, unshakable love the Father has always had for His Son. The Spirit’s work is not to generate a new love in God, but to help you receive and respond to the love that already existed before you were born.
CHEW On This™: Let the Intensity of God’s Love Sink In
Pause at each CHEW step below. Reflect, and answer in your own words—you’ll see a sample below each question. This is where the Gospel gets personal.
Confess
Question: Where do you struggle to believe that the Father’s love is this intense—eternal, fixed, and joyful—toward anyone, let alone toward you in Christ?
Sample Answer: “Honestly, I assume all love fades or has a breaking point. I can imagine God loving Jesus deeply, but I picture His love for people (and for me) as thinner, more conditional, and more easily disappointed.”
Where do you see yourself in this? What would you say if you named your doubts about God’s love in one or two honest sentences?
Hear
Question: What does God’s Word say about the depth and security of His love in Christ?
Sample Answer: “John 17:24 says the Father loved Jesus before the foundation of the world. Romans 8:38–39 says nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Together, they say this love is eternal, and once I am in Christ, it is unbreakable toward me too.”
What verses or scenes—baptism voice, John 17, Romans 8, Ephesians 1–2—speak most clearly to you about how deep and unshakable God’s love is?
Exchange
Question: If you truly trusted that the Father’s love in Christ is this eternal, limitless, and fixed, how would that reshape your assumptions about what God is like and how He sees you?
Sample Answer: “I would stop imagining God as mostly tired and disappointed. I would start to see His commands as coming from a Father whose love is already set on me, not as tests to see if I’m worth keeping.”
If you believed this deeply, what would change in how you picture God’s face, tone, or posture toward you today?
Walk
Question: What is one practical step (10 minutes or less) that helps you sit with the intensity of God’s love instead of rushing past it?
Sample Answer: “Tonight, I’ll read John 17:20–26 slowly and write down every phrase that shows how the Father loves the Son and how that love reaches me. Then I’ll thank God for two specific truths I see, without rushing to fix anything.”
What is one concrete step you can take this week to linger with Scripture’s description of this love instead of treating it as background noise?
Ways the Father Loves the Son—And Why It Matters for You
Here’s how you can actively trust and experience God’s love—not just work harder.
- Eternal Love: Before the World, Before Your Story
The Father says He loved the Son “before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24, ESV), which means there was never a moment when this love began and there will never be a moment when it ends.- Why this matters: If the love that holds you in Christ is rooted in eternity, it doesn’t rise or fall with your week. It is anchored in God’s eternal life, not in your changing performance.
- How it looks: When shame or anxiety shouts, “You’ve finally gone too far,” you answer with Scripture: this love is older than your sin—and Christ has brought you into it.
- Scenario: After a season of drifting, you return to church feeling like a permanent disappointment. You hear John 17:24 and realize: the love that holds Jesus never had a starting point, and in Christ, that is the love that now holds you. Your failure fits into the story of His mercy; it does not rewrite His eternal affection.
- Infinite Love: Beyond Measure or Comparison
The love between Father and Son is the love of one infinite person of the Godhead for another. It cannot be weighed, counted, or exhausted. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, ESV) means that this love is as boundless as God Himself.- Why this matters: When you quietly ask, “Has God run out of patience with me?” you’re treating His love as a finite resource. Infinite love means there is more mercy than you can out-sin and more kindness than you can comprehend.
- How it looks: You begin to trade “Have I used up my chances?” for “God’s love in Christ is not a tank I’m draining; it is a fountain I’m being drawn into.”
- Scenario: You stumble again in an area you were sure was behind you. Instead of assuming, “This was my last chance,” you confess honestly and remember that the Father’s love for His Son—and for those in His Son—is not rationed. You approach Him as a child, not a customer who has overstayed their welcome.
- Fixed and Unshakable Love: Never on Trial
God’s love within the Trinity does not flicker with mood or circumstance. The Father’s pleasure in the Son is steady, even as Jesus walks toward Gethsemane and Golgotha. Romans 8:38–39 echoes this fixedness for those in Christ: “nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (ESV)- Why this matters: Many believers live as if every day is a re-audition for God’s love. Fixed love means the verdict is already rendered in Christ and does not get reopened each morning.
- How it looks: You stop reading circumstances as a scoreboard of God’s affection. Hard days become places to cling to His promises, not evidence that you lost His favor.
- Scenario: A project fails, a relationship strains, your health dips. The old narrative says, “God must be done with you.” Instead, you say, “The cross already settled God’s heart toward me. This pain is real, but it is not proof that His love has shifted.” You bring your questions to the One whose love is not on trial.
- Joyful and Delighting Love: Not Bare Tolerance
At the baptism and Transfiguration, the Father does not mumble reluctant approval; He declares loud, joyful delight in the Son. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, ESV; see also Matthew 17:5).- Why this matters: If your only categories for “love” are duty, tolerance, or “putting up with,” you will assume God feels the same way toward you. Seeing His joy in the Son opens the door to believing He can genuinely delight in those united to Jesus.
- How it looks: You begin to picture God’s heart as warm, not reluctant; His welcome as glad, not merely polite.
- Scenario: After a small act of obedience—choosing integrity, apologizing quickly—you assume God barely notices. But you remember the Father’s joy in the Son, and texts like Zephaniah 3:17, and you start to imagine your Father rejoicing over His children in Christ with real pleasure. Worship becomes less about trying to win Him over and more about responding to joy that already exists.
- Self-Giving and Glorifying Love: Sharing, Not HoardingJesus prays, “Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5, ESV). The Father and Son share glory, purpose, and honor; each delights to exalt the other. “All mine are yours, and yours are mine” (John 17:10, ESV).
- Why this matters: Human love often hoards recognition and power. The Father’s love for the Son is generous and outward-moving. That same generous love is what brings you into God’s family and purposes.
- How it looks: You start to see salvation not just as God “letting you in,” but as God sharing His own joy and glory with those who do not deserve it.
- Scenario: You read Ephesians 1 and see phrases like “to the praise of his glorious grace” and “in the Beloved.” You realize: the Father is not grudgingly including you. He is joyfully gathering you into the worship and glory that have always existed between Father, Son, and Spirit.
- Relentless Love in Suffering: Holding Fast Through the DarkAt the cross, the Triune God acts in love to save. The Father does not stop loving the Son there; He loves the Son’s obedience, even as the Son bears wrath for sin. Jesus says, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again.” (John 10:17, ESV)
- Why this matters: Many assume that pain means distance from God’s love. The cross shows that the deepest suffering in history happens not in the absence of love, but right at the heart of God’s saving love.
- How it looks: When you suffer, you begin to interpret that season through the lens of a love that stays, not abandons. You see trials as places where the Father is at work, not episodes where He has walked away.
- Scenario: In a long stretch of illness, unemployment, or relational strain, you feel forgotten. You look again at the cross and resurrection and remember that the Father loved the Son through every step of that path. In Christ, that same relentless love holds you, even when you cannot feel it.
- Overflowing Love by the Spirit: Poured Into Your HeartThe love between Father and Son is not a closed circle. The Holy Spirit is often described in historic theology as the “bond of love” between them, and Scripture says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5, ESV).
- Why this matters: You are not left to imagine or manufacture this love. God Himself moves toward you, by the Spirit, to make this love known and experienced over time.
- How it looks: You begin to see moments of conviction, comfort, joy in worship, or fresh courage as the Spirit helping you taste what is already true in Christ—not as emotional flukes.
- Scenario: During an ordinary song on an ordinary Sunday, you suddenly sense a fresh awareness that you are not alone and not cast off. Tears surprise you. You don’t chalk it up to “the music”; you recognize the Spirit quietly pouring God’s love into your heart again.
Worship Response: Resting in a Love That Won’t Run Out
Take 30 seconds—thank God for what His love has done. Worship is responding to His finished work, even when your feelings lag behind.
Prayer:
“Father, thank You that Your love for Your Son is eternal, limitless, and unshakable—and that in Christ, You bring me into that same love. Thank You that this love does not begin with my efforts or end with my failures. Teach my heart to see You as You really are: rejoicing, steady, and generous. Help me respond today as someone held by a love that will not run out. Amen.”
Next Steps to Grow in God’s Love
Lasting change is always relational—God moves, we respond. Share your story, join a CHEW group, or reach out for prayer. To keep going deeper:
- How the Father Loves the Son: Seeing Jesus Through His Father’s Eyes
(Part 1—watching the love itself in Scripture’s scenes.) https://1stprinciplegroup.com/how-the-father-loves-the-son-seeing-jesus-through-his-fathers-eyes/ - What It Means That He Loves You the Same Way (John 17:23 Applied)
https://1stprinciplegroup.com/what-it-means-that-he-loves-you-the-same-way-john-1723-applied/
(How this “even as” love begins to reshape daily life.) - A CHEW practice: take one of the seven dimensions above (eternal, infinite, fixed, joyful, glorifying, relentless in suffering, overflowing by the Spirit) and walk it through Confess, Hear, Exchange, Walk in one specific area of your story.
With you on the journey,
Ryan
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