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The Christian Life – A Divine Love Story
Matt 22:36-38 says, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
How was it that I came to be saved? Why am I a believer in Christ? The answer is simple…. God loves me. Why are you saved? The answer is the same. When a person realizes and experiences the love of Christ, that person can’t help but fall in love with Him. The reason God has brought us into His full salvation and into His divine purpose is simply because He loves us, and the reason I am a Christian and pursue after Him is simply because I love Him. The Christian life is not merely a matter of duty, of tradition, of culture, of upbringing, of teaching, doctrine, or outward things, but it is a matter of love.
I touched this reality when I was in middle school. I experienced a joy so deep that I don’t think I could describe it adequately with words. At that point I knew for sure that I was saved and that Christ was living in me. He was no longer a God far away in the heavens but He had entered into me to make my joy full. This Christ is a Person living within my heart. He is no longer a set of beliefs, a picture on someone’s wall, a philosophy, or an object of religious worship, but He is a living Person who is making His home in my heart through faith. He is a real and living person who I love.
So what does the Lord desire now from me? Does He want me to attend “church” bi-weekly? Does He want me to live a very good and moral life? Maybe He wants me to do many outward things to help people or to spread the gospel. Certainly all these things aren’t wrong and are even very good. However, what God desires most from us is revealed in Matt. 22:36-38. What God requires most from us is that we love Him with our best love. We were made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, man’s unique need for love from others is just a reflection of God’s own need. I was very touched by a portion in the book of Revelation, chapter 2. In this section, John is writing to the Church in Ephesus. Here the Lord says that He has known their works, labor and endurance. But He has one thing against them, that they have left their first love. Although, the church in Ephesus had good works and bore many things because of the Lord’s name, God was still unhappy with them because they didn’t love Him with their first love. What about us? Do we love God with our first love?
I’m can’t say with assurance that I love Christ with my first and best love. However, I can say that the more I spend time with Him in secret, the more I get into His eternal Word, the more I contact Him and tell Him I love Him, then the more I fall in love with Him. Our secret time with Him produces a personal and intimate relationship. It is through this that we are able to live a life that is according to Christ, a life that magnifies Christ. We begin to live a life that is not based off of law, rule or regulation, but we live a life that is according to Lord’s sweet voice, according to His leading and His “smile”. It is a life of abiding in the Lord and the Lord abiding in us. Although I feel I am still a child of God and have a long way to grow in the divine life, I can testify that this is true.
So lately I’ve been meeting with some Christians on campus. I enjoy meeting with them because I can tell that they love the Lord very much. They not only care for their needs and their desire, but they care for what the Lord desires and what is on His heart. Every time we study the Bible together, Christ and His purpose is always the focus. The more we touch His word, the more we enjoy His rich grace and our love abounds for Him.
I like to end by sharing the first stanza of hymn that has greatly touched me:
“Lord, Thou hast won, at length I yield,
My heart by might grace compelled
Surrenders all to Thee;
Against thy terrors long I strove,
But who can stand against Thy love?
Love conquers even me”
Thomas P