Online Articles
How Deep is Your Love?
We struggle to comprehend the way Jesus loves mankind. It is difficult to fathom and express. We try to describe it, but our words inevitably fall short. His love exceeds the depths of the ocean and traverses the length of the sea. This love God has for us, we may rightly call vast beyond all measure. When Christians declare that He shows us marvelous mercy, infinite love, immeasurable grace, we do not exaggerate. His love is that deep.
Paul teaches a similar lesson in Romans 8 when he informs the Corinthians that,
“...neither death, nor life, , nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vs. 38-39).
The strength of his love overpowers everything you’ve ever seen or heard of. Truly, the love of God in Christ ought to leave us dumbfounded! It also presents a challenge; am I willing to show my love for Him to the lengths that He has shown His love for me?
John clarifies what it means to love God in I John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments...” How deep is your love?
Jesus left the glory of heaven because He loved you, will you humble yourself for Him? Philippians 2:6 tells us that Jesus “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Being in heaven and worshiped continually by angels was not what mattered most to Jesus. He refused to obsess over what He deserved. He loved us enough to “empty Himself,” to subjugate Himself, and serve mankind. How deep is your love?
Do you love Jesus enough to transform yourself into a humble servant? Keeping His commandments will require sacrifice. I’ll have to give things up like pride, ego and ambition if I hope to serve Him well. Is your love deep enough to do that?
Jesus lived an uncomfortable life because He loved you, will you be uncomfortable for Him? Jesus did not lead an enviable life. He had less stuff than you. He slept outside more than you have. He traveled on foot more in 33ish years than you ever will in 70 or 80. He testified to the discomfort in Luke 9:58 when a bystander stated his desire to follow the Lord, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
The Man who could turn stones to bread and calm a storm with a word, lived with all sorts of discomfort by choice. He made that choice because He loved mankind. Man did not need Jesus to be a great king upon the Earth holed up in some castle with all the luxuries this life could afford. They needed a traveling preacher with worn out shoes, dust on His feet, a willingness to sleep outside and an internal fervor for winning lost souls. He loved us enough to live that life. How deep is your love?
Keeping His commands inevitably leads to discomfort. It means sticking out like a sore thumb, willing to be the object ridicule for the ungodly. It means not cheating when cheating makes life easier. It means dealing with the awkwardness of telling someone you love that you think they’re lost. He loved us enough to be uncomfortable. Is your love deep enough to do the same?
Jesus suffered excruciating pain because He loved you, will you suffer for Him? When we reflect upon the cross I find it impossible to not think of the pain of such an execution. They gashed Him, punctured Him, ripped Him to ribbons and pinned Him to a tree (though they failed to fracture Him). How much of that would you endure for the sake of keeping every single one of His commandments? At which point would you cave, admit defeat, and sin to end the torment? He never did. He never came close. That’s how deep His love is for us.
We struggle enough to keep His commands even without the threat of violence. Peter certainly shied away when it seemed he would be put on a cross as well. Although, eventually Peter loved His Lord enough to suffer for Him. I hope to God that we all who attend the Southside Church of Christ will one day have such a deep love for our Lord that we’d be willing even to die to keep His commands.
Brothers and sisters, how deep is your love?
