Is Your Love Alive?
The sermon emphasizes the importance of prioritizing time with God to maintain a healthy and loving relationship with Him.
David Wilkerson emphasizes the necessity of spending quality time in God's presence to keep our love for Him alive. He draws parallels between romantic love and our relationship with Jesus, highlighting how neglecting time with God can lead to a dying love. Wilkerson illustrates this with the example of the bride in the Song of Solomon, who desperately seeks her beloved, reflecting the longing we should have for Christ. He challenges Christians to consider how they prioritize their time and the implications of neglecting their relationship with Jesus. Ultimately, he calls for a rekindling of our love for God, urging us to make Him our top priority.
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If you can go about your daily life facing all sorts of interruptions and demands, and yet not spend ten minutes in God's presence, your love is dying.
Think about it: If you love someone exclusively above all others, you will make that person feel he is the most important being on earth. Everything else will pale in comparison to him.
Is this not how you first loved your spouse when you were courting? If she called while you were busy, you dropped everything just to talk to her. If anyone intruded on your time alone together, you resented it. Everything else took second place in your efforts to develop the love between you.
Many Christians today go for weeks, even months, without spending quality time with Jesus. How can they love Jesus with a whole heart when they neglect Him for days on end?
In Song of Solomon, the bride could not sleep because her beloved ". . . had withdrawn himself . . ." (Song of Solomon 5:6). This woman arose in the middle of the night, saying, "My soul failed . . . I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer" (same verse). So she quickly ran into the streets, looking everywhere for her lover, crying out, "Have you seen my beloved?"
Why was this such a serious matter to her? Because, as she said, "This is my beloved, and this is my friend" (verse 16). "I am sick of love [faint with desire for him]" (verse 8). She could not be without her beloved.
How does Jesus feel when He spreads the table and anxiously awaits our company, yet we never show up? The Bible calls us His bride, His beloved, His one great love. It says we were created for fellowship with Him. So, what kind of rejection must He feel when we continually put others before Him?
Sermon Outline
- The Importance of Spending Time with God
- The Example of Courtship
- The Consequences of Neglect
- Jesus feels rejected when we prioritize others
- We were created for fellowship with God
Key Quotes
“If you can go about your daily life facing all sorts of interruptions and demands, and yet not spend ten minutes in God's presence, your love is dying.” — David Wilkerson
“We were created for fellowship with Him.” — David Wilkerson
“This is my beloved, and this is my friend” — David Wilkerson
Application Points
- Make time for God each day to prioritize your relationship with Him.
- Recognize the importance of fellowship with God in your life.
- Avoid neglecting God's presence, as it can lead to a dying love.