Loving Christ

August 6

Loving Christ by Dr. D. James Kennedy

“…love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.…’—Mark 12:30 Have you had the wonderful experience of falling in love with someone? If you have, then you know how it changes your whole outlook on life. The grass looks greener. Music sounds more beautiful. Everything becomes more positive. If this is true for human love, how much more for divine love? Christ loves us intimately, and He is more than worthy of our affections in return. Since the Son of God came to earth, we have the great privilege of knowing Him personally, walking humbly with Him each day, and loving Him intimately. How can we tell if we love Jesus? Of course, we know we love Him when we obey His Word. But we can also tell whether we love Jesus in the same way we know whether we love a fellow human being. When we truly love someone, we love to talk with that person. We desire to pour out our hearts and souls to them. We feel confident that our beloved understands us and likes to listen to us. But we also love nothing more than to hear from our beloved. If he or she is away, we eagerly anticipate phone calls and letters from that person. And each time we interact with our beloved, we want to discover more and more of that person’s character, thoughts, likes, and dislikes. We’re not satisfied until we know that person well, knowing what he or she thinks about everything. And when we really love someone, we want to become the type of person he or she wants us to be. Such things are second nature when true love is present. And they are the same thoughts and desires we should have for our relationship with God. Do you desire to love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul? If you feel that your relationship with Him could use some improvement, then look to the Cross. Look to that great source of love, and ask Christ to bring a coal from the altar of His love and set a flame in your heart—one that will never be extinguished so you may love Him with all your being. Pray that this day you will fall in love with Jesus afresh.