4 Marks of True Love for Christ
Dr. John Snyder is the pastor of Christ Church New Albany, director of Media Gratiae, host of The Whole Counsel podcast, and author of multiple multimedia Bible studies including the Behold Your God series, Living with the True God: Lessons from Judges, and Behold Your God: Seeking Him Early.
In this passage from The Sermons of Behold Your God: The Weight of Majesty, Dr. John Snyder explains 4 marks of a true Christian’s love for Christ.
A person’s lack of love for Jesus Christ will be made evident when, in the judgment, Christ damns all who do not love Him. Yet, Paul is merciful and warns the church, if you will not love Christ, you will be accursed. It’s wise to search the Scriptures now and examine your life. Ask, “Do I possess the kind of love the Bible says a Christian should have for Christ?” Remember, we’re not looking for perfect love. Every Christian would look at his own soul and grieve that the love he gives Christ is less than what he wishes to give Him, less than what He deserves. But does a real love for Christ exist in your life? Let’s look at biblical descriptions of the kind of love that we must have for Christ.
First, real love to Christ is always more than words. It includes words, but it’s more than that. Real love involves heartfelt obedience. Look to these passages: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15); “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (John 14:21); even the love of friendship between the sinner and Christ requires this obedience: “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). When we look at our feelings for Christ, we have to ask ourselves, Do my feelings for Jesus Christ ultimately produce a new loyalty? A new allegiance? Do I have the kind of love that moves me to obey?
Second, real love for Christ is more than keeping rules; it involves a longing to be with Christ—to spend time with Him. We see this principle in human relationships: People who love each other like to spend time together. Paul hints at this in the passage above: “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha” (1 Corinthians 16:22). Maranatha means “Oh, come Lord.” It’s a prayer. Like Paul, the Christian longs for the nearness of Christ. The Christian longs for His return. One evidence of our love for Jesus Christ is that we do look forward to the day we will see Him face to face—when He receives all the glory due to Him and is clothed with the splendor that He had before the creation of the earth. On that day, we will see Him as He is, and will love Him without the interference of sin in our souls. This ultimate longing is in the heart of every saint: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
In addition to a longing for His return, Christians also have a daily yearning for Christ. “Come today;” “Come often;” “Come quickly,” we pray. Seasons of grace are when the Christian, in a very simple and childlike way, opens Scripture, bows his heart before his King, and meets Him in His Word. To be able to walk with God throughout the day and have an experiential understanding that He is ours and we are His has always been the desire of believers. Think of David’s prayer:
One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.…When you said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek” (Psalm 27:4,8).
This principle offers a simple test of your love to Christ. Do you look forward to spending time alone with Him? Do you look forward to gathering with other believers and meeting Him? Do you make daily plans so that you’ll have time for Him, no matter how busy your life is? Do you look forward to special seasons when you have an opening in your schedule? When those opportunities arise do you say, “There are a lot of things I could do with this free time, but I think I’ll spend time alone with the Lord”?
Third, real love to Christ includes loving Christ’s family. This is not always the case in human relationships. When a boy falls in love with a girl, he doesn’t necessarily fall in love with her family. He may not even like her family. But in the kingdom of Christ, the work of God in the soul guarantees that every Christian loves God and loves other Christians. This is so essential to Christianity that when John, in his first epistle, gives three major tests of being a Christian, he spends a great deal of time talking about this love for God’s people. Let me give you a few examples: “We know that we have passed out of death and into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death”(1 John 3:14). “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one 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, that the one who loves God should love his brother also” (1 John 4:20–21).
Fourth, genuine love to Christ involves the whole of you for the whole of Him. Again, we’re not talking about perfect love, but when someone loves Jesus Christ, it will be with heart, mind, soul, and strength. Though love to Christ is not just emotions, intellect, or actions, it must include each of these elements. The whole of you will love Christ; it’s universal. You cannot contain love for Christ. It spreads to all of life. It’s not perfect, but it influences everything. Christians love the whole of Christ. They are not satisfied to pick and choose aspects of Christ to love. Real love doesn’t compartmentalize Him and say, “Well, I really admire these things, but I don’t understand why He’s this way. I don’t like this, but I do like this.”