Do you love Jesus?

If I asked you that question face to face you would most likely respond, “Of course! Yes!” Now…tell me why?

Do you love Jesus for what He has done for you,
or for who He is?

Don’t respond quickly. Think about that for a minute. Imagine you are a single woman and a young man knelt before you tonight and said,

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love you because you make me look really good in front of my friends. Because you laugh at my jokes and you make me feel good about myself. Because you are impressed with my rugged good looks, you make me chocolate chip cookies once a week, and you send me get well cards when I’m sick. I also look forward to you doing other things too, like cleaning my bathroom and doing my laundry. Will you marry me?”

What would you say to that young man? If you’re smart, you would say a loud and hearty NO! I won’t marry you. If all you care about is what I do for you, you don’t really love me.

Now, think about this.

We call ourselves Christians and we sing songs like “Oh, How I love Jesus”, but do we really? We are happy that He died for us and that He’s promised us a home in heaven someday. We are thankful that He answers our prayers when we’re in a pinch and that He provides for us when we need something, but do we love HIM? If we are really honest with ourselves, many, if not all of us would have to say no.

The good news is that Jesus’ love for us isn’t dependent on ours for Him.

Jesus is madly in love with you.

He’s is absolutely crazy about you. Why? Because He is love. It’s His nature. He can’t help Himself. He said in John 15:9, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”

Do you believe that?

The love of God the Father for Jesus Christ His Son is beyond our imaginations. Those of you that are mothers know a little bit about this, but it is far greater than we can understand in our fallen human natures. It is perfect, complete, and unbounded. And here Jesus says that with that same love He loves us…perfectly, completely and without restraint.

I know this, but even so, I often act as if His love is based on my goodness or the level of my spirituality that day. And on a good day, if I had to put a percentage on Jesus’ love for me compared to  His Father, I would probably say 10%. Yes, He loves me, but surely not THAT much. According to this verse, that kind of thinking is thoroughly faulty. Jesus loves me with 100% of His being just as the Father loves Jesus with 100% of His being. But just knowing that fact doesn’t do us any good. We must be obedient to the rest of the verse.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

(To be continued…)

Click here to read Part 2

Photo credit: seyed mostafa zamani / Foter.com / CC BY