Just the Nine of Us

Just the Nine of Us

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Who Do I Love?

I was recently really convicted by a thought. I imagined what my life would be like if Brian had done for me what Jesus has done for me. Stay with me for a minute, I'm not trying to be sacreligious. Suppose that I had done something really terrible, something that the courts decided was punishable by death. Suppose that really terrible thing was against Brian and hurt him deeply. But suppose that in his love for me, he offered to die in my place, and the courts said that he could do it so he did. I would never get over that act of mercy, grace, and love for as long as I lived. Every day I would be thinking of his selfless love, of the sacrifice he made so that I could live even when I deserved death. I would tell the world about him and what a wonderful man he was.  Suppose that he had left me a long love letter. In it he told me how he wanted me to live the rest of my life, how he wanted me to raise our kids, how he wanted me to love our neighbors and be like him. I would pore over every word of that love letter. I would cherish it. I would memorize it. I would obey it. I would be careful to live exactly how he asked me to live, out of love and gratitude towards him and out of an effort to honor him. Suppose that letter said that he was coming back to get me, and he wanted me to be like a spotless bride, ready for him and for that day. I would SO do it. I would constantly be about the business of making myself ready for that day. 

And then the conviction hit. Why don't I love Jesus like that???? Why is it that someone here on earth, someone with imperfections and flesh, would receive greater loyalty and love than what I have for Jesus?

The awful truth is, my heart doesn't love Jesus like it should.

I have been asking my Heavenly Father to ABUNDANTLY increase my love for Jesus. That just like, if Brian had died for me, I would love the rest of my life honoring him, I would have the same passion and drive and faithfulness to my Heavenly Bridegroom. My life would be about HIM and what He did for me on the cross, and what He wants from me now. That our love relationship would be even more real and more passionate than any other earthly relationship, even that of my marriage.

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. . . . and it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me 'My Husband'. . . I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord." -Hosea 2: 14, 16, 19-20

I want to know the Lord like that!!! How many times is my life more like this. . . "They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord." -Hosea 5:4

Lord Jesus, give us a love for You that is passionate. Draw us, allure us, speak tenderly to us in the wilderness. May our love for You so permeate our lives that we seek nothing more than to be in Your presence continually. Captivate our hearts, Jesus. Amen.

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