I often consider the story in Luke, where Jesus is dining with the Pharisees, the legalists of the day, as a woman is pouring oil on His dusty feet and wiping them with her hair while she weeps. One of the Pharisees knows of her reputation as a great sinner, and he cannot understand why Jesus allows her to touch Him. Jesus explains to the Pharisee that the reason the woman loves Him so much is because she has been forgiven so much. It is a story that resonates within my heart.
My sins, one and all, would put me to death because God says all sin deserves death and unless there is something new, as far as I know, dead is dead. I am dead in my sin without Jesus’ saving grace.
I love God much because I have been forgiven much. He has granted me a new life. He has restored me to what I would have been had I never sinned. What love He has for me and you. How could we not love Him more? And, because I love Him more, I want to know Him better. I often see this in pastors and teachers, this love for the Lord that knows no bounds and must be shared with the flock.
It may be this very reason – thankfulness for much forgiveness – that makes one teacher appear to have a more heartfelt understanding than another. Some teachers teach from knowledge of the head and some with knowledge from their souls.
Knowledge of our great forgiveness brings us so much closer to God than the knowledge we get from books. There are some very smart teachers of God’s Word and there are some very humble servants that teach, as well. Those who teach from humility and knowledge are the ones that reach my heart. Those are the preachers and teachers that know without a doubt that they owe their very life and breath to Jesus’ saving grace by His death on the cross.
Thinking about this makes me want to sing “Oh, How I Love Jesus!” This wonderful song tells us the basic truth of salvation: “There is a Name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth; It sounds like music in my ear, The sweetest Name on earth. It tells me of a Savior’s love, who died to set me free; it tells me of his precious blood, the sinner’s perfect plea. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me!”
We were loved first by Jesus before we even got to know Him. The only people I know that already love those they don’t know yet are about-to-be parents. They gush over their child even before they know him or her. God is like that, too. He loves us, He conceived us in His creation, and He wants to be with us forever.
It is almost unbelievable this huge love God has for us – and then we blow it by sinning. Again, and again, and again. And yet, if we truly repent of our mistakes and return to Him, that love of His forgives us by way of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. What an amazing love story!
So, what is stopping us from loving God back? Well, first of all, we like to go our own way and control our own lives. That is not the plan God has for us. He calls us to be like Jesus, and, truthfully, most of us just don’t want to be holy. We want to have the world’s kind of fun rather than holy fun.
Second, I believe we want to fit in with the world and true Christians don’t really fit in well. We sort of rub against the grain of the world’s beliefs. It is hard to fit in when the world thinks you are under-informed and/or out-of-date. Still, when I see the Amish and Mennonites who look very much out of place outside of their own towns, I see in their faces that they know they don’t fit in and are still very content to be out of place in the world but in a secure place with God in their hearts.
Can we, Christians, be joyful, have fun, and also be content that we don’t go with the flow of the world? I believe so. I love God endlessly and I strive to be obedient in all things and I still enjoy life immensely. I don’t fit in everywhere but not one person on Earth does. I have friends that share my faith and I have friends that just enjoy me, while not believing the same way I do. I can love those who don’t believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world, and I can also bristle at people who profess to be Christian.
“We love because he first loved us.” (1 Jn. 4:19).
God has forgiven me much and so I love even those that make me bristle. We are commanded to love, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 Jn. 4:20-21. So, this loving of others helps me to keep the bristling at bay.
When I consider how much God has forgiven me and realize that even so, He is excited to have me join Him in His heavenly kingdom, I could weep with the wonder of it all. That amount of love cannot be bought or gained in any human way, it truly is a gift from God. He gives us grace without measure when we turn our lives toward Him. How could we not want to return that remarkable love?
ED. NOTE: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City.
