Loving Jesus

Among the hard sayings of Jesus is the charge that one cannot be His follower if he does not love Jesus more than mother, wife, brothers and sister, or his own life (Luke 14:26). This is a non-negotiable issue. One may believe in Jesus as He is correctly revealed in Scripture. One may believe that only in Jesus is salvation, but if that faith is not rooted in cherishing Jesus above everything else, particularly those things that one would regard as most valuable, he cannot claim to be truly saved.

Now, one may not fully understand this requirement when he first becomes a Christian, but when that claim is presented, a saved person will unquestioningly embrace it. Love for Jesus is the key defining issue of true faith. Love for God is the first and great commandment (Matthew 22:34–40). Israel failed that test: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8, 9). Love is treasuring Jesus above even life itself, a deep and intense passion of the heart that regards the Savior as supremely worthy of all honor and devotion.

I have long, but mistakenly, held that love was primarily not an emotion but an act of will.  I saw love first and foremost as doing something for another—seeking the welfare of another no matter at what cost or sacrifice. I could not say that I loved Jesus if I did not obey Him. Thus, loving was equated with obedience. After all, Jesus could not command someone to love Him if love were primarily an emotion. I did believe that emotions would follow willing obedience. I was wrong. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If I truly loved Jesus, emotionally valued and treasured Him supremely, I would also naturally desire to obey Him. It is also true that loving obedience grows into a rich and ever-deepening experience of that love, but it is the passion that first motivates its active demonstration.

This truth is illustrated by the loving worship of a forgiven woman of the street in Luke 7. She stood behind Jesus as He lay at table, dining with the Pharisee who invited Him. She wept and washed His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing and anointing them. This was met with the Pharisee’s horror and rebuke. Jesus responded with a parable of two debtors, one who owed little and the other who owed much. Both debts were forgiven. Jesus followed with the question, “Which forgiven debtor will love the benefactor more?” Obviously, the one with the greater forgiven debt. Jesus then applied the principle to the woman: “I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for [as a consequence] she loved much.” Her self-humbling and sacrificial worship was her response of overwhelming love and gratitude she felt for her Savior at the great debt forgiven. She loved much.

I fear that many who profess salvation are more like the Pharisee. These sinners feel that it is Jesus who should love them for their willingness to accept Him, and, thus, they do little for Him.