Chapter 1: The Simplicity of Loving Jesus

The love of God is the most central and supreme thing in life. God’s love for us, and our love for God, are the most important things we could ever dwell on.

But oh, how easily we complicate our lives! And everything else seems to crowd out the love of God. We think of almost every other little thing before we stop and say, “I love you, Jesus. I love you, Lord!”

Recently, I was arrested by this thought: Why do people become followers of Jesus in the first place? Why are we living a Christian life at all? Why do we want to see the kingdom of God advance in this world? All of these questions were swirling around in my brain. And then the Lord stopped me and reminded me of the great why. It is because He first loved us. 

It is because He sweetly saved us. It is because He stormed into our lives some years ago, and He taught us to love Him. He showed us how lovely He is – how absolutely beautiful He is.

That clarifies everything. It has the power to simplify everything in our lives.  

I pray that someone who reads these words would come to be stopped dead in their tracks as well, and say, “Do I love Jesus? Am I giving Him my love?”

And of course, I hope we wouldn’t have to ask that in a judgy way. It’s not a question of how much love we are measuring out to Him, or if we’re meeting a certain quota. It’s not like this: “If I don't love Him, He won't love me!” It's nothing like that.

It’s simply this: He first loved us, and He started this incredible love-bond with us, and we are invited to be wonderfully awake to it.

Glorious, simple, dripping with honey, full of light…

And now the best thing for us to do is to ask, without any condemnation, “Is my heart warm toward you, Jesus? Am I loving You? Am I burning with passion for you, Lord?”

And again, this is never a question asked in morbid self-examination. It is rather a matter of shifting our intentions, posturing our hearts, and whispering, “Lord, I love You. Lord, let me pause to love You now.” Let me sing, “I love you, Lord.”

I love you, Jesus. Let me stop there, and just breathe a moment.