Loving the Audience of One

The command of Jesus was: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37)

When we’re in love, it’s all about that person. We sacrifice more than we have to and we go out of the way to love that person. We would even die for that person. Living for Christ, is the same. Jesus loves you so much, that He would have come to redeem you even if you were the only person He had to redeem. So much was His love that He chose to live for you even through all the pain and agony that He bore on that Cross. His love for you and His obedience to the Father is what kept Him from evading death. Mahatma Gandhi said this of Christ: He said that He was “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 view, that a man known as the Mahatma or the Great one? 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 just went down on my knees and said “Lord, the way a boy chases after a girl whom he loves, let me chase after you.” If a boy chases after a girl even though she rejects him, how much more should we chase after a God who has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us and that 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. That is why the Psalmist cried to the Lord and said “Search me O God, and know my heart” Life is dead without the love for Christ.

It was T. Austin-Sparks who said that Christianity is not a doctrine, not truth as truth, but the knowledge of a Person; it is knowing the Lord Jesus. You cannot be educated into being a Christian. I have seen the wretchedness of mankind where we dispel all of our energies on things that seem to fade away in the twinkling of an eye. In vain efforts we continue to pursue that which should not be pursued. We embrace that which should not be embraced. A young man who is a Christian pursues a young lady, does so without a second thought, he substitutes his prayers and daily devotions just to speak to her on the phone. He would forfeit Church service just so that he could be with her. In doing so, the young man arouses the jealousy of God.

I have one passion. Says Zinzendorf - It is He, only He. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It’s as if they are showing you the way. That’s what the body of Christ should be on earth. A model of loving Christ.

Love the Lord, that you may please Him‘…but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments’ Exodus 20:6

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. Matt 24:12

It is true, that when we have wickedness within us, it is difficult to exercise purity. When we are sinful and indulging in wrath, it is a challenge to come before God. When we hide our sins and don’t confess it, we’re turning away from the love of God. How can we feel the love of God if we don’t love Him? Because if we truly love God in the first place, we would never dwell in our transgression, though we may occasionally stumble and perhaps fall.

The word of God and the principles of life stand true to the concept of sowing and reaping. Each of us reap what we sow. “… A man reaps what he sows” Galatians 6:7.

If we sow in righteousness, we reap in righteousness, if we sow in truth, we reap in truth. Through the views of sowing and reaping, what did Jesus sow that He deserved to reap the penalty of crucifixion? Isn’t this profound that He would sow in righteousness and reap in unrighteousness?

Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world sowed love into our lives so that He may give us life. He took the Cross for our sake. The only reason why He had come to do this for us is because He loves us. And because He loves us, He redeemed us. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

It is true that the Scriptures say that Christ first loved us. This is what Napolean had to say about Jesus: “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force! Jesus Christ founded His Empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

As Jonathan Edwards said: “The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which also God is magnified and exalted” He went on to make two resolutions. Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.

E-mail this article to a friend