This is the final installment in a four part series on the love of God and our response to that love.
Missed the earlier posts? Follow these links to get caught up: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Yesterday I shared a life-changing thought that I received through a video of Louie Giglio speaking on God’s Passion for God’s Glory. I won’t repeat everything here, (because you really ought to read the post and watch the video) but the essence is that God wants the very best for our lives, which is Himself. And the best thing we can do for ourselves is to give glory to Him, which fulfills the purpose for our creation.
Today I want to share the secret for changing your heart from a glory-seeker for yourself and into a glory-giver for Jesus. Are you ready for this?
ASK HIM
Jesus will give you an abundant love FOR Him and a close, intimate relationship WITH Him if you ask Him to.
It’s kind of a strange thing to pray for God’s help to love Him, but you have to realize that we are corrupt. Our sin nature prevents us from loving as He created us to. In order to overcome this problem, we must have Jesus’ help. Revelation 3:20 says (words are in red – this is Jesus speaking) “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Jesus is very polite. He isn’t going to invade your space. He’s going to wait until you invite Him in.
Now if you’re like me, and Jesus was at your door you would want to clean up the kitchen and straighten the bathroom and make sure all the beds were made before you let the Son of God into your house, right? He isn’t worried about all of that. Keep in mind that Jesus has x-ray vision. He knows what is on the other side of the door of your heart. He sees all the junk. He sees the bad habits and the sinful thoughts and the wrong attitudes that you have. He’s not going to walk in the door and go “Oh my goodness! What a mess! I can’t stay here!” No. It’s not about that. It’s about a relationship. Meals in Bible times were significant. You didn’t just grab a pizza with anybody you wanted to. Sharing a meal with someone meant you accepted that person. It was personal. You never really were friends with someone until you had dinner together. It was a serious thing. Jesus is inviting you into a personal, intimate relationship with him. It’s like our version of Starbucks. Two people sitting close to each other pouring their hearts out over a couple of cups of steaming caffeine. Sharing secrets and dreams and those little hurts that are so personal that you can’t share them with anyone else…Jesus cares about all of those things and He wants you to share them with Him.
He’s promised in Proverbs 8:17 that anyone that seeks after Him will find Him.
If you begin a habit of asking Jesus to help you love Him things in your life are going to be different. It’s not going to be a magical, poof, I LOVE JESUS kind of a moment. As with any relationship, it will take time. But slowly, the Bible will begin to come alive to you as you read it. Things that you never noticed before will start to jump off the page at you and will make sense. You will begin to see God at work in every area of your life. Big things and little things.
Jesus is the only person that will never be taken away from you and the only thing that gets better with time.
Possessions break, wear out, get lost and fall apart. Jesus never will. People die, move away, disappoint you, break your heart. Jesus never will.
So in thinking of all that we have covered in the last four posts, I ask you again. Do you love Jesus for what He has done or for who He is? If you can’t honestly say yes, I encourage you to begin praying today for God to give you the love for Him that He desires.
Photo credit: Valentina_A / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA