In Love or Like???

Revelation 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Do you know that the church is the “Body of Christ”? Jesus is the Head of the Church and the Body all at once... We cannot separate them even though many try... Some deceive themselves by trying to treat one better than the other and justifying their ill behavior of the other for a host of reasons. But can we rightfully treat one with distain or carelessness and be true to the other? The answer is NO!

What if each of you were so in love with Jesus and His body (aka: The church) that there would never be a plea from the local church for money or workers. Thats right... no more begging, offering announcements and/or clever campaigns. Instead, you as members of the body of Christ give liberally and find the giving a joy, and seek to know if you can give more, if needed. And even if serving means doing something you don’t like to do, you simply roll up your sleeves and get at it. No murmuring or negativity clouding the heart, but pure joy just to serve the body of Christ ... or as scripture says, “as unto the Lord”. Maybe I’m wrong, but when you’re in love with someone you are always asking, “what do you need?, “do you have enough?”, “can I do anymore?”. I know most of us remember this tone from early on in our relationships. We were quite attentive. However, I know for most, this tone has changed to a lukewarm or cold heart. Don’t accept this temperature drop as okay or normal... Its bad news.

When you're in love you long to be together. When you’re in love you don't see once a week as enough or something you could do with or without. Heaven is forever being in the presence of Christ. If you have no desire to be with the body of Christ. hmmm... I wonder how that works. Yes, I know we can make lists of excuses and reasons to dislike “church people”. Caution: Jesus won’t let you chop His head off and throw away His body... and He knows not everyone in the local church belongs to Him and He knows others are weak, annoying and even difficult. But He has left us with in instructions of how to live and deal with one another. 

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

When you’re in love, unless it’s some “forbidden love” (something shameful), you want everyone in your life to meet that special person. When you bring someone to where the body of Christ has assembled they get a special gift of meeting the supernatural presence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. “Where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus”...

When you’re in love you don't hold back. Everything you do seems to others as being over the top. Singing about and to Jesus and hearing the holy scriptures as they point to the very person of Christ should set our hearts on fire. We shouldn't need primed or pushed... And when the singing or preaching stops the thought of Him should linger in our hearts and minds. All because we love Him.

Are you really in Love or are you just in Like? I was in Like for a long time. I was only willing to do so much and only go so far. I was more worried about my comfort and happiness. Commitment was whatever I felt it should be. Obedience was optional. Then I experienced the Grace of God and it all began to change.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

When you are in love you want to make the other person happy. How this is done is by doing whatever you know pleases that person. This is even when you don’t like to do what they want or perhaps don’t understand why they like or dislike... But when you are in love it means that your smile may only be there because you see the smile it puts on the face of the one you love. You receive enough joy from pleasing them that your lack of personal satisfaction doesn’t matter.  When Jesus calls us to love Him, He reminds us that we love Him by keeping His word. This is a real point of turning for many (I could say so much about this above all the other thoughts). When I am disobedient to God’s word, my heart is driven to exam the relationship that I profess to have with Jesus. Self- judgment using the word of God is the only way for a true believer to maintain a healthy love relationship with Jesus. 

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23

Consider your relationship with Jesus... If there is any trouble in this relationship I assure you it’s not on His side of the relationship. Is there real evidence that you are truly in love with Him? Not just in mere outward expressions... Not just in busyness...  If the answer is no, then the same place the Spirit of God summoned the church of Ephesus to, I urge you to be. “Repentance Blvd”… Easy to find, but hard to get to because we must humble ourselves and confess our sin

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:5