Last month we were centered on Jesus supposedly captivated by a lot of things, so we ought to be captivated the same way. My approach every time I had the opportunity to speak was to point out, how Jesus Himself was what was captivating in each subject presented per Sunday.
In other words, instead of us low-key complicating things by saying that we ought to generate the same passion Jesus had for each subject, I pointed out that Jesus was precisely what was captivating as, say, the Father’s Love, Prayer, the Word, Relationships, and the Lost.
Jesus is the Father’s Love for us.
Because of Christ’s finished work, we are not only in constant connection, but we are in constant communication with our heavenly Father, so much so that through Christ we can see ourselves as walking, breathing prayers.
Christ is the Life breathed into the Word, and Christ is the Word seen in Life: Christ Himself is the Living Word.
Our relationships are now a celebration of the inseparable, intimate relationship we have with God through Christ, and from this relationship, we celebrate.
The Lost see this, and are drawn to us. The Lost are captivated to us through Christ.
This month we’re kicking things off with the common theme that would have us loving as Christ loves us.
I’m glad for this series because it gives me the opportunity to clarify and specify what I’ve been wanting to express up on the pulpit for the longest time: That we do what we do FROM the perfect, unconditional, and everlasting love that God has for us, and by no means do we work FOR it.
I strongly believe that I ought to point out that we no longer work for God to love us or to continue loving us, simply because there are still a good number of us in the body of Christ who are still doing exactly that. Instead of using their energy on shining the everlasting love Christ has for them guaranteed today and forever, they’re either still working FOR the same love, or they’re working against anything that they suspect would separate them from said love.
Let me say that again: We do what we do FROM love, and not for us to BE loved. We’re ALREADY loved, today and forever. To rearrange a controversial phrase: Once loved, always loved.
Throughout our wretched existence in this fallen and messed up world, the message has been loud and clear for humanity: that the Creator of the Universe and all that is seen and unseen loves us with an everlasting love, and this is true and proven first and foremost through Christ and His finished work.
There was a time that we thought we had everything figured out, in that we said that there was no need for us to observe all 613 laws to inherit eternal life, because Christ gave us the shortcut to a lawyer in Luke 10:25-27: That we should “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.“
Sounds like a plan, right? Sounds like something all of us should do? Well, probably not. Consider that Christ said this before laying His own life down at the cross. Consider that Christ said this before His glorious resurrection, which was the absolute receipt of His full and complete payment for sin, for our righteousness.
On our own we will certainly fail to love God with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength and all our mind. And since we fail in this, we would not come close to loving ourselves, and we will absolutely fail in loving others.
Now, because of Christ and His finished work we behold the Truth that, actually, God loves us with all HIS heart, HIS soul, HIS strength, and with all HIS mind…
God loves you with all His heart. God loves you with all His soul. God loves you with all His strength. God loves you with all His mind. Let that sink in.
Is this true? How do I know this? Because when we were legally, literally, figuratively, virtually sick and tired of reaching to God in vain, it was His Son, Jesus Christ, who stepped off of His glorious throne to be born as one of us, Emmanuel, God reaching down, God WITH us;
God loves you with all His heart. God loves you with all His soul. God loves you with all His strength. God loves you with all His mind.
Is this true? How do I know this? Because of Christ who was not content to celebrate being born as one of us, living with us, eating with us, laughing and crying with us…
“… though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” -Philippians 2:6-8
In the recent days I’ve learned that motivation is overrated and so fleeting, in that one day we’re motivated and pumped up, and in the next we can very well find ourselves back to square one. We shouldn’t be grabbing motivation out of thin air, but we should learn to stand and move from discipline built upon a sure and solid foundation, who is no less that Christ alone.
God loves you with all His heart. God loves you with all His soul. God loves you with all His strength. God loves you with all His mind.
Let this Truth take you past the euphoric experiences of emotion, and into the stark realization that Christ is not only a feel-good pill for times of hardship, but the absolute power that would have you truly living, truly moving, and truly being.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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