How Much Do You Love Jesus?

My Utmost For His Highest

 

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also . . . . And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me . . . . So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” —Luke 14:26-27, 33

 

‘Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not truly devoted to Jesus Christ. No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him. We may admire, respect, and revere Him, but we cannot love Him on our own. The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and it is He who has “poured out in our hearts” the very “love of God” (Romans 5:5). Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you, He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.’ CHAMBERS

 

Jesus said that if we are going to follow Him, we must pick up our cross (Matthew 16:24) … be willing to crucify all that is natural to us (Galatians 2:20). To hate your family is a description of relativity.  Compared to your love for Jesus, you hate your family.  That does not mean you don’t love them.  Martie and I have lived apart from our family for many years.  We love them very much, but God has called us to a place that requires us to be separated from them. Willingness to be apart from those you love is not something that you can conjure up on your own.  “No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him…”

 

Jesus does not ask all of us to be apart from our families, but He does tell us to Love God first .. to seek the Kingdom first … to forsake our love for the world and follow Him, first.  When the disciples told Jesus that His mother and brothers were at the door waiting to see Him, Jesus said “He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50) Our tendency us to “naturalize” the  Bible.  To think of it in terms our natural life. Jesus brought a spiritual reality to the earth.  We must see the world and people the way He does.  We can only do that by being one with Him .. we can only do that by the power of His Spirit in us.

 

Jesus asks us what He asked Peter “Do you love Me.”

 

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)