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Love Jesus

There are so many opinions on the true meaning of the word LOVE. For some people, it has come to mean passion and intense emotion, often connected to sexual desire. And when we hear that we are to grow in ‘loving Jesus’, somehow we struggle to relate. 

The apostle John helps us to see that the purest way of expressing LOVE is to GIVE. And in particular to give of ourselves: 

John 3:16 NLT For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Love clearly goes far deeper than passion or emotion. Dallas Willard, a prominent Christian author, once defined love as the act of ‘engaging with someone for the sake of their benefit’. This kind of LOVE was central to all of Jesus’ life and teaching. The way He engaged with people always turned out to be to their benefit: 

Acts 10:38b CSB Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Jesus left His followers in no doubt as to what He meant when He referred to how we are supposed to love Him. 

John 14:15, 21, 23a, 24a CSB If you love me, you will keep my commands. The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him. Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

There is, unfortunately, such a thing as an abusive relationship, where one partner manipulates the other by demanding absolute compliance to their every expectation. But that is not the place Jesus is coming from when He makes these statements. He has already laid down His life for us, proving that He is not in the relationship for what He can get out of it. 

John 10:11 NLT I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

John 15:13 NLT There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

As our Creator, Lord, and Saviour, Jesus has proven that He loves us more than any other person in this world and that He knows us better than we know ourselves. Whatever He asks of us comes from a desire to see us thrive and live fulfilled lives. When He asks us to do something for Him it is because He knows that in doing what He desires, we will reap the benefit. Doing anything for Him is a mature response to what He has already done for us, not an attempt to get Him to do something for us. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 3:16). And every time we do what pleases Him, we express our love for Him.