In How Do I Love Thee? – Part 1, I asked the question, “Do you love Jesus for what He has done for you, or for who He is?” I have found that at times, according to my actions, I am treating Jesus more like a genie in a bottle to answer my prayers than the Savior of my soul that desires an intimate relationship with me. I think part of that thinking is because I’m selfish and self-centered and I don’t always take time to meditate on the gloriousness of the Trinity as I ought, and therefore the Majesty of who I am supposed to be worshipping is lost in my focus on myself.

At the end of Part 1 and in Part 2 I talked about how at times I catch myself thinking that God’s love is based on my performance when really, “Jesus is encouraging us, to live our lives in the abundance of His love.” His love for us is based on the fact that He is love, not on how we respond to His love. And yet, how we respond to His love dramatically effects our lives. I’d like to continue those thoughts today. 

Jesus wants the very best for your life.

And the very best thing you can have in your life is Jesus.

Some time ago I came across a brief video on YouTube of a several statements within a message by Louie Giglio on the Glory of God. This video impacted my heart in a huge way. Listen carefully and really think about what he says. (Louie Giglio – Full sermon series called “History: God’s Passion for God’s Glory”. I highly encourage you to watch the full video.)

God’s highest priority in the world isn’t you. God’s world doesn’t revolve around you, God’s world revolves around God. God’s highest value is God. He knows who he is. He’s full of himself. And in being such he’s not being selfish or egotistical. He’s actually being as loving as he could possibly be to you by being full of himself. And everything he’s ever done, he’s done motivated by one thing and that’s his own glory. He wants the very best for you and for me. He wants to give us the very best. And what is the very best? He’s the very best. And he knows he’s the very best-so if God gives us anything less than himself he’s not giving us the best. So he’s not being selfish, he’s being loving when he says, “I demand that you place me at the center of your life. I want you to place me at the center of all of your thoughts and all of your energy and all of your worship and all of your affection, all of your glory. I want it to be centered in me.” And when he does that he’s not doing it for him. He’s doing it for you. John 12, Jesus speaking, “Now my heart is troubled, what shall I say? Shall I say Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” That’s what Jesus said a breath away from the cross. Glorify your name. The cross wasn’t to make a lot of you. The cross was about making a whole lot of God.

This is what Romans 8:28 is talking about. A lot of people quote Romans 8:28 as if it was a magic pill that is going to make everything going wrongly in their life right. “We know that all things work together for good.” What many people don’t understand is what the definition of “good” is. The verse goes on to say that “all things work together for good” but only for a select group of people. Who are those people? Those that love God. But go further than that and you’ll find that it’s not just those that say they love God, but those who are called according to his purpose. Those who are saved. Verse 29 says that those who have been saved have been chosen by God to be conformed to the image of his Son. That is the real definition of “good” in verse 28. But it also tells us why all things work together for good. It is so that he (meaning Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren. Or in other words, for the spread of the gospel that God might be glorified among many. God didn’t promise that all things would work together to make you happy. God promised that all things would work together to bring Him glory!

When we bring glory to God we are fulfilling our purpose and that makes God very happy. But the only way to do that is to be 100% totally committed to Christ. Think of a marriage ceremony. When you stand before God and a room full of your family and closest friends to commit your body and soul to your husband, you are doing that to the exclusion of everyone else. Traditional vows usually say something along the lines of:

“Will you have this man to be your lawfully wedded husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage, to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

When you say “I DO” that doesn’t mean except for the weekends. It doesn’t mean I take you and occasionally I’m going to go out with Johnny and maybe once in a while Bob and I might go see a movie or something. NO! When you commit yourself to your husband you are eliminating all others from being a part of your life. God wants the same kind of commitment. He doesn’t want to share you. He wants you all to Himself. And as Louie said earlier, He doesn’t do that for Himself, He does that for you.

You were created to be fulfilled in Christ alone.

To try to fill your life with any other thing, even a husband or children, is going to leave you empty.

A lot of young women think that if they can just get a boyfriend, or just get married they will be happy. That isn’t true. You will never have true joy until God is the center of your universe. God instituted marriage as a picture of his relationship with us. We are to be One flesh with God. We are His bride. He chose us, He loves us and He wants us to love Him in return.

Hopefully you are beginning to understand how important our response to God’s love is to Him. He wants to be everything to us, which will in turn make us complete, content and happier than we could ever imagine, but this kind of a relationship doesn’t happen automatically, or even because we want it to.

Continued in the final installment in this series: How Do I Love Thee? – Part 4

Photo credit: jlwo / Foter.com / CC BY-NC | Quote added to the photo by me.