All in Love

The human view of knowing is based almost totally on our minds, as evidenced by the fact that we judge the worth of each other based on intelligence and intellectual achievement, but although God places value in that as well, He founds His judgement of our relationship with Him on what happens in our hearts. Do you love God? This is the greatest commandment! This is the greatest of our emotions, and is not an intellectual pursuit that we can control and dictate. It is the greatest commandment Indeed!

Are you living for the here and now? So many people go through life looking at the world as if what were happening at this instant in their life was of the utmost importance. They say that they plan, but they are making plans for tomorrow, and for how they will live out their life... seeing no further than the grave. God wants so much more for us than that; He wants to spend eternity with us.

Do we abide in Jesus Christ? This is an incredibly powerful question, and our answer to it determines much. This is the condition that is placed on one of the most sought after promises in the Bible... answered prayer, and it is also linked to other promises such as the love of God, and joy. So how do you approach Jesus? Is Christ abiding in you, or just a visitor?

We consider ourselves Christian when we accept Jesus as the Son of God who lived, was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, descended into hell, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. These are the tenets of the Apostles Creed, but these are the things we believe, and are only the beginning. The goal of faith is to lead us to love. So I ask today... do you love Jesus as much as He loves you? Have you given your life as He gave His?

We say we love the Lord, but do we really love Him, or do we love studying and reading about Him? Do we really love Him or do we love talking to others about our knowledge of Him? Do we really love Him, or do we just want Him around in case of an emergency? Do any of these sound familiar, or maybe your relationship with Him is dysfunctional in another way. Knowing who He is isn’t faith; reciting a children’s prayer we learned a lifetime ago isn’t the prayer He expects from you. Open the door of your heart to Him.

What do we know about Jesus, God, and our faith? Have we read the Bible cover to cover, and memorized key scriptures? Have we taught Sunday school lessons, or preached the Word from the pulpit? Or, perhaps we have learned and spoken on the subject of Church history, and all the councils and creeds... but does this bring us an inch closer to knowing God? My real question this morning is this... “do you know God, or just know of God?”

God is our creator, and has worked out the means of our redemption, our salvation; Jesus was nailed to the cross, but it was God’s will that placed Him there. Have you picked up your cross to follow Jesus, or are you still waiting on God to say come? Waiting on our Father becomes much easier once we realize that He formed us, saved us, and it will be in His house that we will live forever. But do we know who He is, or do we believe in a mystery?

I read this week about realizing the depth of our sins, but it took a different view of them, and turned the depravity of our wrongdoing from the heartbreak of remorse into the amazing heights to which they are raised by our forgiveness. This author encouraged those with the darkest of sins to confess them, repent from them, and ask the Lord for forgiveness because the love they would feel between themselves and God at the moment of their relief would be amazingly great.

As Christians, do we love one another, or do we divide ourselves so completely in our perceived love of Jesus, that we distance ourselves from each other? I look around Christendom and see one head and many bodies, one bread, and one table, being bitterly contested and claimed by each to the point of refusing to serve another family member at the table they prepare. Is this the way Jesus meant us to behave?

Do you read the Bible each day, diligently adhere to the commandments, and perform acts of mercy as a mater of daily routine? Do you pray that God forgive you of your sins as you prepare to walk out the door in the morning, and place a check beside that on your list of righteous things to do? Well all these things are good, but God doesn’t want to be reduced to a checklist; he wants to be your closest friend, your most trusted confidant, the one you come to with every thing that excites you in life... he wants a relationship that places Him at the true center of your life... your BFF. We can’t do this without constant prayer.