ARE YOU A LORD LOVER?
Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
Today my mother-in-law was talking about the different candidates running for President of the United States, and she concluded by saying that all politicians speak out of both sides of their mouth. I know she meant that they say one thing one minute, and a minute later another another thing if it was more convenient. This is certainly not limited to people in politics. Just the other day I wore a Cub’s shirt and hat to a prayer meeting, because I know my pastor likes the Cubs. But I have also been seen wearing Cardinal, New York Yankee, White Sox and Colorado Rockies apparel. Yes, I love the game of baseball.
While this may be considered appropriate or accepted practice, God does not go along with in regards to his Son. God demands complete loyalty, and truthfulness. As we see in today’s passage, God scrutinizes every one of our relationships with him. Now I am not saying that every day he rates us on a scale of one to ten, but he does know if we walk the walk or just talk the talk so to speak. And in God’s perspective it is much more than just what we say or do. For God it all boils down to the relationship of our heart. It is like some couples that are married for one reason or another, and then there are those couples that really love each other. The church is the Bride of Christ and God wants a relationship of love. If we want something that has a focus on good works, fellowship, acceptance, achievement and honor there are plenty of civic organizations out there to fill those needs.
The church is filled with people that are there for all the wrong reasons. In fact any reason other than loving Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and putting him first in our life is wrong. So is it wrong to be a pastor, choir member, Sunday School teacher, board member or janitor wrong? No not at all, unless those are the reasons why you are apart of the church! While the world may see the church and it’s denominations as an organization, God doesn’t see it that way at all, and neither should we as Christians.
Matthew 36-43 says, “Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.’”
In Revelation 14:14-20 we see this very thing where it says, “I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like the son of man’ with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ So he that was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’ vine, because its grapes are ripe.’ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 180 miles.’”
While people may think that they can play church on Sunday and leave Jesus at the door, they are very mistaken. In I Samuel 16:7 it says that God looks at a person's heart, and not at outward appearances. I once asked someone if they loved Jesus, and they stared at me as if I was crazy. Chances are they had attended church all their life, but never fallen in love with Jesus. Another time I was riding to a meeting with someone, and all of a sudden they started crying. When I asked what was wrong they said they didn’t know or love Jesus the way I did. Right then and there as we traveled down the road I helped her to not just know of Jesus to know him in such a way as for her to fall in love with him. She had been going to church since she was a little girl. For over thirty years she had went to church on Sunday, attended Sunday School, given her tithe and offerings and served on committees, but never had a personal relationship with Jesus let alone to love him. From that day on her life with Jesus changed in a beautiful way. It has been over thirty years, and she still sends us Christmas cards expressing her love for us and for Jesus.
Do you love Jesus? Now I am not asking if you go to church, give tithes and offerings or serve on a board. I am asking what is in your heart regarding your love for Jesus? You may be asking how do I love someone I can’t even see. It begins with the same practices as you might have with another person. You must start including him in your day. Talking to him in a personal way as you would your best friend if they were beside you. You need to talk to him as you did when you first started dating your wife or husband. You need to tell him constantly that you love him and how much he means to you. You need to trust him, thank him for all he does for you. Most of all you must want to have a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus more than anything else in your life. You can have this and so much more, but you must want it. Is it important? Yes! Just the difference between heaven and hell! As a good friend of mine Aarlie Neaville might ask you, “Are you a Lord Lover?”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us so much! Please help us to love you the way you love us. We ask this in your holy name.
