Cultivating Love for Christ

    Everything worth having requires effort.  Healthy bodies, healthy marriages, or healthy lifestyles do not just happen without intentionality, work, and cultivation. The same is true of a deep relationship with Christ.  It requires a focused, intentional effort on our part to start and maintain a lifestyle of learning and loving Him. While all of our salvation is secured in Christ, and His work only, there is an element of our faith that requires us to act.  

    Revelation 2:1 speaks of the church at Ephesus and commends them for their patient endurance and not growing weary in the work of the Lord.  This tells us that living out the calling of the gospel in our lives is not always easy!  Now, all along the way God offers us His strength and tremendous blessing.  We will see the benefits of this effort!  However, the church at Ephesus was doing all the right things, but had lost their "first love."  This follows very closely to Pastor Rob's teachings from Malachi, warning us against becoming complacent in our worship. 

    Very much like any relationship, the infatuation, or "honeymoon" phase will wear off at some point. We are then faced with a choice of going through the motions just to keep the outward appearance of a relationship intact, or we can work to move beyond those surface feelings and deepen that love into something even stronger than it was in the beginning.  You see, as that love deepens, the "motions" become a joy as we see the joy that our acts of service bring to the other person. We receive blessing as we serve, but it still requires action! The difference in drudgery versus service is the attitude of love that backs the work. 

    So how does a person cultivate and deepen their relationship with Christ, so that they do not just "go through the motions."  We must seek Him and learn about Him.  He has written us a book that tells us everything about Him that we need to know. As we learn about Him, we will find out what He loves and what He hates. Learning about His character and His sacrifice for us will rekindle that burning love for Him.  It fuels a desire to serve Him wholeheartedly.  In fact, we will so desire to serve Him, that it will take over every aspect of our lives.  This is what He wants!

    We must fill our minds so full of Him, that this is what our minds default to when we have downtime.  Meditating on Christ and the cross will draw our heart to His.  As our hearts are drawn to His, His love overtakes us and we are caught up in a deep, passionate love that is beyond description. 

    As we learn about Him, we must obey His leading.  It may be simple, obvious commands that He calls all of us to follow. As we learn more of Him, we will see that He desires to be involved in every single aspect of our lives.  As we allow Him in, and follow in obedience, our lives will look less like those in the world around us and more like His. 

    There is an element of "going through the motions" at the beginning. We must fight laziness and even cultural norms to trust and obey the Savior.   However, if our hearts are open to receiving the results of reading and learning of Christ, this quickly dissolves into a consuming desire for more.  He promises to strengthen us in our Spirit to do His will. 

    I pray that we can, together, be a church consumed with a burning love for our Savior.  The effort will be rewarded! God sees, and responds with an outpouring of His Spirit on those who fight the good fight for their faith.  Don't stop! Keep up the good work!

💓 Heather Sparks💓