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Loving Jesus Christ is a quintessential part of your Christian life and Christian theology in general. What you put focus on in your life gets magnified. When you love Jesus you experience the fullness of God. When you do not love Jesus, it shows in your relationship with others.
Loving Jesus consistently is a life-long journey. This life is full of many shiny things to throw you off track. In John 15:15-21 KJV, Jesus says:
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
When you consider Jesus' proclamation, you should feel uncomfortable. Jesus is asking you to follow His commands as a sign of your love for Him. We understand that love can not be simply conveyed with actions. Love is not simply just doing something to appease the other party.
In Pastor John Piper's piece "I Love Jesus Christ", he states that "obedience to the commandments is the result of loving Jesus, not the same as loving Jesus. Love is something invisible and inside. It is the root that produces the visible fruit of loving others."
It's important to remember that love is not seen physically. You cannot see love with your eyes. The only way we can see love for God is through its fruit -- loving others.
What Does it Mean to Love Jesus
Loving Jesus is not merely following His rules. The Pharisees abided by the law, but did not love God from their core. During Jesus' missionary, the Pharisees opposed Him at every step. They eventually pushed Him to His death on the cross.
The love for God produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit. What you love will be shown through your fruit. In Galatians 5:22-23 KJV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
God designed love to be simple. He wants us to serve what we treasure. When you love money, you tend to neglect God for the pursuit of more money. When you love evil things, you tend to neglect the good things. In the long run, it's clear who your master is.
It's easy to hide who you truly are in the world. You can even hide from yourself. But you cannot hide from God. He will bring all things to light eventually.
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Jesus exposed the young man when He asked the young man to give everything to the poor. While the young man thought he was obedient to God, he actually loved money more than Jesus. This happens time and time again through the Bible. Love for idols drives disobedience to God. When you truly love God, the only thing that matters to you is following God.
Through Jesus We Know Love
The Scripture provides numerous examples of love through obedience to Jesus.
In Romans 5:8 KJV:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
In 1 John 3:16 KJV:
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
In John 15:13 KJV:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Jesus' death on the cross is the ultimate act of love. Through the trials He endured, Jesus proved that His love was not just talk.
He proved love in deed and in truth. Only through understanding sacrifice are we truly able to understand God's love.
Putting your faith in Jesus means you understand His sacrificial love for you. Jesus loves you so much that He would do anything to save you.
Final Words
How do you love Jesus unconditionally? By your actions. Your actions will always reveal the your true relationship with Jesus.
We are all children of God. But we are all flawed in many ways. If you truly receive Jesus in your heart, your fruit will show through your obedience to Jesus' commandments.
That's what it means to love Jesus. Loving God isn't easy. But taking on the spirit of God is the only thing that will radically change your life today and everyday.