“Father, I want those you gave me To be with me, right where I am, So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, Having loved me Long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you, But I have known you, and these disciples know That you sent me on this mission. I have made your very being known to them— Who you are and what you do— And continue to make it known, So that your love for me Might be in them Exactly as I am in them.” –John‬ ‭17:24-26‬ ‭MSG‬

“There are bad things in you, Davie, worse than you can know yet; but I will tell you one thing: I saw you pull the little pup’s ears till he screamed out.” Davie hung his head. “And you stopped a while, and then did it again! So I knew it wasn’t because you didn’t know that it hurt the pup. Was that a thing that Jesus would have done when he was a little boy?”

“No, sir.”

“Why?”

“Because it would have been wrong.”

“I suspect, rather, it was because he would have loved the little pup. He didn’t have to think about its being wrong. He loves every kind of living thing; and he wants to take away your sin because he loves you – not merely to make you not cruel to the little pup, but to take away the wrong thing that doesn’t love the little pup, and make you, too, love every living creature. Ah, Davie, you cannot do without Jesus!”

-George MacDonald, Donal Grant