Scripture commands us, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37)
When we are in love, everything that we do is centered around the person we love. We sacrifice more than we have to and we go out of the way to ensure the well being of that person. We would even die for that person.
Jesus loves you so much, that He would have come to redeem you, even if you were the only person He had to redeem. He would have died on that cross even if you were the only person whose punishments He had to bear. Jesus was not only executed - He was tortured and executed. So much was His love that He chose to suffer and embrace the pain and agony before and during the crucifixion. It was His love for you and His obedience towards the Father that kept Him from evading death. Mahatma Gandhi said this of Christ, “A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including His enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. “
Wasn’t that an amazing thought? A man known as the Mahatma or the Great One recognized the motivation and purity of the act. If Gandhi, a pantheist could say this of the Absolute Being, what should we, followers of the Absolute Truth say about Him for He said, I am THE Truth?
One day I went down on my knees and said “Lord, let me chase after you, the way a boy chases after a girl he loves.” If a boy can pursue a girl even though she rejects him, how much more should we pursue a God who has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us? He loves us with an everlasting love.
John Knox remarked this of Christ: “No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved.”
Simon son of John, do you truly love Me?” John 21:16. When Christ asked this question to Simon, it was a searching question. Christ was searching Simon’s heart. Christ was allowing Simon to search his own heart.
God is asking you the same question today. Would you take a moment and introspect?
The Psalmist cried to the Lord and said “Search me O God, and know my heart.”
Of course, we cannot force ourselves to love God. Scriptures say that we love Him because He first loved us". The more we sit in His presence and experience His love, the more we can love Him back. However, sin and wickedness hinders us from coming before God. It hinders us from tasting His goodness and receiving His love. When we hide our sins and don’t confess it, we’re turning away from the love of God. Loving God prepares our hearts to receive His healing love towards ourselves. If we truly love God in the first place, we would never dwell in our transgression, though we may occasionally stumble and perhaps fall.
Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world sowed into our lives love and righteousness. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. Would you let Him reap the fruit He deserves? Your utmost, unwavering, irrevocable love for Him?
About the author:
Shobha Sridhar Luke: A lover of God's presence, a daughter of the kingdom, living life through the Word of God. She is a part of the Kingdom Vision team. She loves reading books!! “Seek above all the Kingdom of God and Christ’s kind of justice..” (my paraphrase of Matt 6:33 ).