Fall in Love with Jesus
Love is the high esteem that God has for His human children and the high regard
which they in turn should have for Him and other people (I John 2:3-6) “And
hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that
says, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoso keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected
hereby know we that we are in Him. He that says he abides in Him ought himself
also so to walk, even as He walked”. “God is love” and because we are made in
His imaged, we should love (I John 4:7-11) “Beloved let us love one another, for
love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. He that
loves not knows not God for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God
toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we
might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us,
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another”. The word know is not just a mental knowing
but it is a intermit relationship with.
Remember when you fell in love with your mate, you wanted to know everything
about them, and wanted so much to please them, that you would do some things
you wouldn’t otherwise do. As you built that relationship, you spent a lot of time
with them, and when you couldn’t be together, you talked on the phone. Jesus
warns the churches in Revelation 2:1-5 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus
write: these things says He that holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know your works, and your labor
and your patience, and how you can not bear them which are evil, and you have
tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars.
And have borne, and have patience, and for My name’s sake have labored, and
have not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against you, because you have
left your first love. Remember therefore from where you are fallen, and repent
and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly, and will remove your
candlestick out of its place, except you repent”. This should be a wake up call to
the churches of today, some thinking because we are not under the law, but under
grace, that we can do whatsoever we please, without consequences, but the Bible
tells us in Galatians 5:18 “but if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the
law”. And in Galatians 6:7-8 “be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever
a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh
reap corruption, but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting”.
Love is not a suggestion, it is a commandment. Jesus confirmed that we are to
“love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, you
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the
law and the prophets (Matthew 22:37-40). As we walk in love we get to know
whom we love. The Bible tells us to “draw near to God and He will draw near to us”
(James 4:8). Love is an action word “God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John 3:16). The Bible says in I John 5:1-3 “Whosoever believes
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loves Him that begat
loves Him also that is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of
God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous”.
Jesus also says the same in John 14:21, 15:10 “He that has My commandments
and keeps them, he it is that loves Me, and he that loves Me shall be loved of My
Father and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him”, “If you keep My
commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s
commandments and abide in His love”. He also says “how can you call Me Lord
Lord and do not My commandments”. I John 2:9-10 tells us that “he that says he
is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loves
his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him”.
Because God is love we need to walk in love.
If you love Him, you will love what He loves and hate what He hates (Proverbs 8:
13) “the fear (reverence) of the Lord Yahweh is to hate evil, pride, and arrogancy,
and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate”. The Bible shows us what
God loves and hates, so we must dig in and discover this for ourselves. The is a
song, “to know know know him is to love love love him”, and even though it is a
natural song, it is true. The more you get to know God, the more you will love
Him. As you meditate on what He has done for you, He paid the price for our sins,
allow us to be reconciled to God. And realizing this shows us how much He loves
us, this builds us up. Romans 8:32 says “He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things”.
And as we meditate on this, it becomes harder for the devil to deceive us.
We are the bride of Christ, His help mate. We have to let the flesh die, just as
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane had to let His will die and submit to God the
Father saying “nevertheless not as I will, but as You will. Your will be done”
(Matthew 26:39, 42). We are the body of Christ and are to be doing the things
that Jesus did.
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: April 17, 2007