The Simplicity of Loving Jesus

The love of God is the most central and supreme thing in the Christian life. God's love for us and our love for God are the most important things we could ever think about. But oh, how easy do we complicate our lives.

And everything else seems to crowd out the love of God. We think of almost every other thing in life before we ever stop and say, I love you, Jesus. I love you, Lord.

And I was arrested recently, just stopped dead in my tracks by this thought of, why did I get into this in the first place? Why am I living a Christian life at all? Why am I, me personally, Sam, acting as a pastor? Why am I wanting to see the kingdom of God advance in this world? All of these things. And the Lord stopped me and reminded me of the great why. It's because he first loved me.

It's because he saved me. It's because he stormed into my life some years ago, and he taught me to love him, and he showed me how lovely he is, how beautiful he is. And when the Lord arrested me, stopped me dead in my tracks, and showed me that, it just started to clarify everything, simplify everything in my life.

And for me personally, the Lord is moving me into a season of coming to learn what love means, I think. I've been in a season of faith for the last three years or so, and it has felt like the chapter 11, and saying, Sam, faith, believe, and teaching me what is faith. But now I hear him so clearly saying, what is love? What is love? Sam, do you love me? So I pray that someone who hears this would come to be stopped dead in their tracks as well, and say, do I love him? Am I giving him my love? And that we would never ask that in a legalistic way.

It's not, how much love am I giving? And if I don't love him, he won't love me. It's nothing like that. It's simply that he first loved us, and he started the love bond relationship.

And now the best thing for us to do is say, is my heart warm toward you, Jesus? Am I loving you? Am I burning with passion for you, Lord? And it's never a question asked in condemnation, or hurt, or a morbid self-examination, but it's just, Lord, I love you. Lord, let me stop to love you now. Lord, let me sing, I love you, Lord.

I love you, Jesus. Let me stop there. This verse really got me, John chapter 14 and verse 15.

Christ says, if ye love me, keep my commandments. And when I read that, it was like I couldn't even get to the second half of the verse. I just heard Jesus saying, if you love me.

Do you remember when he says that to Peter? He's restoring Peter to ministry, saying, feed my sheep. But he asks him over and over again, do you love me? Peter says, yes, of course, Lord, you know I love you. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I've always loved you.

Do you love me? Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Do you love me? What a wonderful Jesus, that he would simplify our Christian lives that much, so much, that he would even say, Matthew 22, what is the greatest commandment in the law? He says, love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. And the second is like it.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Love, love God, love those around you. And what is it in our wayward and meandering souls that will always take us away from that? But Jesus always wants to draw us back to that.

Love God. Love your neighbor. And love, love is real.

Love is emotional. Love is full. Love is inside you.

Love is in your heart. Love is not something you can theorize. Love is not something you can just think about.

Love is not something you can just claim to have, but not have it. Love is real. Love is burning.

Love is warm. Love takes time. Love takes time out of the day.

Love loves. And I want to read you just a little paragraph from Bernard of Clairvaux. He was writing around 1100 AD.

It's about a thousand years ago. It's one of my favorite writers, and his little book, On Loving God, is something you can find in a decent translation from Christian Classics' Ethereal Library online. Very easy to find, and it's about 35 pages.

Some of it is hard to read, but some of it is so easy and beautiful to read. So let me read you a little bit about love. Bernard writes, But the believing soul longs and faints for God.

She rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him. She glories in the reproach of the cross. Until the glory of His face shall be revealed.

Like the bride, the dove of Christ, that is covered with silver wings, white with innocence and purity, she reposes in the thought of thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus. I love how Bernard is just writing to us there, but then he turns around and starts talking to Just look at the verbs that Bernard uses here. The believing soul longs and faints for God.

Oh, that we would long and faint. We long and we faint, even though we know we're accepted and we belong and we're totally in and we're citizens of heaven right now, but still we long and we faint. And then he says, She rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him.

So we long and faint, but we rest. We rest. She glories in the reproach of the cross.

Oh, let us glory. Let us glory. We long, we faint.

We're yearning for more, but we're also resting. And we're also glorying, which expresses a bold confidence. I glory in what God has called me to.

I glory in His cross. I glory. And then he says, She reposes in the thought of thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus.

May we learn to repose, to rest, to be calm in God's love. To repose is just to kick back in His abundant kindness. To stop, like I've been saying, and love Him.

Rest and love Him. And then again, he says, And above all, she longs for that day. So there's a reposing in God's love, and there's a longing for the consummation of God's love.

There's a resting in love, but there's also a fervent longing for more of love. For the day when we're in that world of love, when there's nothing but love. There's a resting now in a true, confident, felt, right-by-my-side love.

But there's also a longing for something better than this. For the totality of love. For the end of God's love to be manifest to us.

I just wanted to record this heart-to-heart conversation with you. That you might come to love Him more. And I'm always reminding people, when I say love Him more, I don't mean go examine yourself and legalistically punish yourself.

I just mean, let's love Him more. Let's see Him as so worthy. Let's take time and give it to Him.

Let's take the warmth of our heart and give it to Him. And let's be comforted in how Jesus simplifies our lives. And He says, If you love me, stop and love me.

Love me. Give all of your love to the lovely one. Love the most lovely of lovely ones.

Give Him love. Receive His love. Give every part of your life to love Him.

Your glory. Your faith. Your business.

Your busyness. Your work. Your church life.

Your community. Your everything. Your heart.

Your mind. Your soul. Your strength to love Him.

And then kick back and be loved by Him. And repose in His love. And then simply love your neighbor.

Love your neighbor. Be real when you talk to your neighbor. Don't lie.

Don't make things up. Don't try to put on a face. Love them as you'd want to be loved.

Just with an affectionate, warm care. I've enjoyed the Lord showing me recently that I can love someone, even when I just sit back and listen to them. And I don't know how to help them.

I don't know what to tell them. I don't have the right words. I don't have some magnificent prayer even to give them.

But I can sit back and say, My heart is for you. You're beautiful. You're wonderful.

I'll listen to your story. I'll love you. I'll be with you.

Thank you, Jesus, for your love. Thank you, Lord. We rest there.

We calm our hearts in your presence. You are so kind. You are so near.

You are so beautiful, Jesus. Thank you.