Mark 12:28-34
How do we increase our love for the Lord? I think that we all want to love God more, but is it possible that we have confused our need to love Him more with our need to rest in His love for us? There is much teaching and preaching on how we should be more dedicated, devoted and consecrated, all of which speak of loving God more. But perhaps we should bring back the nursery class songs that we sang as children such as “Jesus Loves Me”. Kids have it right and we should follow suit: your love for Him pales in comparison to the beauty of His love for you!
The great apostle of love wrote, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Love is defined by God as Jesus Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross. The only way that we know how to love is because God has so clearly shown us what true love is: sacrificial and substitutionary. Our love for God will oftentimes lack in passion and fervor, but because of the price paid by Jesus, His love for us is always constant.
Jesus spoke of the kind of love that is demanded by the Law of Moses, in which we love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). This is the highest form of love, for the Law speaks only of things that are holy and just and good (Romans 7:12). While it may sound wonderful to love the Lord with this intensity, there is no power to be found in the command that will help you to fulfill it. Simply knowing that God expects your devoted love does not help you to love Him one ounce more than you already do (or do not).
If someone tells you that they demand that you love them, there is no amount of demanding or commanding that makes loving them any easier. In fact, with our finite ability to love, we are most likely turned away by such a demand and we would find it impossible to love that person at all. The Law sets the standard for how man is to love God, but gives him no motivation towards love; unless you count going to hell if you don’t love God as motivation to start!
Would you love someone who said, “Love me with everything you are, or I will punish you with everlasting fire forever!” We would flee as fast as we can from that kind of “love”, right? How can we expect people to live up to the “love” standard of the Law unless we offer a higher motivation?
God displayed His perfect love for us by putting all of our sins and transgressions into His Son Jesus. This act pleased the Lord, for by doing this to Jesus, He was under no obligation to do it to us (Isaiah 53:10). He then gave to us His righteousness so that when He sees us from heaven, He no longer sees our wrong-doings, but instead He sees a perfect picture of His resurrected Son. Showered with this kind of love and favor, our hearts never run away for fear, but instead run towards a God that would love us so much. Do you see how a picture of God’s true love and grace makes your heart lean towards Him instead of away?
When you see God as loving you with this kind of intensity, you naturally love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. The highest form of love is found in God’s grace, in which you see the goodness of God and you fall in love.
While Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” when He bore our sins at the cross, we can now cry out in amazement, “Daddy, daddy, why are you so good to me!” See yourself as deeply loved today, and watch an uncontrollable love for God come pouring out of your heart and your life.
How do we increase our love for the Lord? I think that we all want to love God more, but is it possible that we have confused our need to love Him more with our need to rest in His love for us? There is much teaching and preaching on how we should be more dedicated, devoted and consecrated, all of which speak of loving God more. But perhaps we should bring back the nursery class songs that we sang as children such as “Jesus Loves Me”. Kids have it right and we should follow suit: your love for Him pales in comparison to the beauty of His love for you!
The great apostle of love wrote, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Love is defined by God as Jesus Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross. The only way that we know how to love is because God has so clearly shown us what true love is: sacrificial and substitutionary. Our love for God will oftentimes lack in passion and fervor, but because of the price paid by Jesus, His love for us is always constant.
Jesus spoke of the kind of love that is demanded by the Law of Moses, in which we love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). This is the highest form of love, for the Law speaks only of things that are holy and just and good (Romans 7:12). While it may sound wonderful to love the Lord with this intensity, there is no power to be found in the command that will help you to fulfill it. Simply knowing that God expects your devoted love does not help you to love Him one ounce more than you already do (or do not).
If someone tells you that they demand that you love them, there is no amount of demanding or commanding that makes loving them any easier. In fact, with our finite ability to love, we are most likely turned away by such a demand and we would find it impossible to love that person at all. The Law sets the standard for how man is to love God, but gives him no motivation towards love; unless you count going to hell if you don’t love God as motivation to start!
Would you love someone who said, “Love me with everything you are, or I will punish you with everlasting fire forever!” We would flee as fast as we can from that kind of “love”, right? How can we expect people to live up to the “love” standard of the Law unless we offer a higher motivation?
God displayed His perfect love for us by putting all of our sins and transgressions into His Son Jesus. This act pleased the Lord, for by doing this to Jesus, He was under no obligation to do it to us (Isaiah 53:10). He then gave to us His righteousness so that when He sees us from heaven, He no longer sees our wrong-doings, but instead He sees a perfect picture of His resurrected Son. Showered with this kind of love and favor, our hearts never run away for fear, but instead run towards a God that would love us so much. Do you see how a picture of God’s true love and grace makes your heart lean towards Him instead of away?
When you see God as loving you with this kind of intensity, you naturally love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. The highest form of love is found in God’s grace, in which you see the goodness of God and you fall in love.
While Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” when He bore our sins at the cross, we can now cry out in amazement, “Daddy, daddy, why are you so good to me!” See yourself as deeply loved today, and watch an uncontrollable love for God come pouring out of your heart and your life.
