John 5:42 · World English Bible
John 5:42 Meaning But I Know You
But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves.
What does John 5:42 mean?
To say a mind does not have the love of God in it is not an accusation but a gentle diagnosis, for it names the single thing that has gone wrong. The love was never removed.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
John 5:42 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
To say a mind does not have the love of God in it is not an accusation but a gentle diagnosis, for it names the single thing that has gone wrong. The love was never removed. It was covered over by the belief in separation, buried beneath the conviction that the self is alone and must defend itself against a threatening world. What is missing is not the love but the awareness of it.
Such a mind mistakes this emptiness for its nature and builds a life of defense upon it. Yet the One who sees the lack knows it is not the truth of what the mind is. To be seen this clearly is not to be condemned. It is to be shown, without blame, where the covering lies, so that it can be lifted and the love beneath it remembered.
Christian Psychology lensGo deeper in the app
Christian Psychology lens
Live John 5:42 today
- Sit for three minutes without your phone and let whatever kindness is already in you rise, toward yourself first. You are not creating it. You are clearing room for it.
- With one person today, drop the small defense you usually keep up, the joke, the busyness, the half answer. Let them see you a little, and see what is still there underneath.
- When you feel empty and short with everyone, treat it as a covering rather than a diagnosis. Say to yourself, this is not what I am, then do one warm thing anyway.
What have I called my nature that might only be a habit of hiding?
The same truth in other traditions
Kabir
The fish in the water is thirsty, and we laugh at it, then go on searching everywhere for the thing we are already inside of.
Upanishads · Chandogya
What you are looking for, you already are. The teacher repeats it until the student stops searching outward for it.
Sufism · Rumi
You were born with wings. The grief is not that they were taken but that you learned to crawl and called it your nature.
Free · No account needed
Read all of John 5 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store