JOHN 15:9 – As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
THEME OF THE DAY. THE LOVE OF CHRIST FOR HIS OWN. In today’s scripture, our Lord Jesus said the most profound truth a human being may ever hear and experience. To know the love of Christ, not in our heads as knowledge but in our hearts with power, defines the Christian life. Want the greatest motivator to forsake the world? The love of Christ. Want the greatest power to defeat sin? The love of Christ. Want the greatest sustainer to live a life of radical obedience to God? The love of Christ. Want the only thing that removes pride, spiritual laziness, and selfishness? The love of Christ. And it is the person who is under the control of this love that has discovered and is living the Christian life as God designed. But let’s dig a little deeper in this love as it applies to the three things mentioned in the opening of today’s nugget.
First, the love of Christ is the greatest motivator to forsake the world. When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, the question was asked of Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). And when a Christian is experiencing and being controlled by the love of Christ, they will be like Jesus with words like, “I belong to a different kingdom, a different world.” As the love of Christ floods the soul, the pull of worldliness is released. We actually grow a distaste for this decaying and sinful world when the love of Christ is tasted.
Next, the love of Christ is the greatest power to defeat sin. In the pursuit of holiness which is the daily path a Christian is to walk, we will never overcome and defeat holiness-destroying sin until we see it in two lights. First, sin, all sin, must be seen as what crucified the Lord Jesus. When we are tempted to sin, play with sin, or ignore sin, stop and think of Christ’s cross. Then ask, “How can I possibly allow or practice the very thing that crucified my Lord?” The other light in which we are to see sin if we want to pursue God-honoring holiness is to think on the heart of God. Every sin grieves the heart of our Triune God. Isn’t that enough in itself to fight against and avoid all and every sin we are tempted to do or allow to exist in our lives?
A third thing about the love of Christ; it is the greatest sustainer to live a life of radical obedience to God. What does meditation on the love of Christ produce in the hearts of His children? What is the natural result when hearts encounter, experience, and are changed by the love of Christ? There is a growing and intense desire to love Him back. How? Obedience. Whole-hearted and radical obedience. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
The most wonderful experience a human being will ever have is to know the love of Christ, not in head knowledge of Biblical facts, but in the heart that sets a life aflame with love for God, a hatred of sin, and an abandonment of worldliness. Does that describe us? It can. God stands ready to shed abroad the love of His Son into our lives. It’s all up to us.
PRAYER: “Father, make my heart yearn for and seek a greater encounter with the love of your Son.”
QUOTE: “Christ’s love controlling a person is the definition of the Biblical Christian.”