I love my favorite football team, I love a really good steak, I love a well crafted novel…In fact there are hundreds, maybe thousands of things that I “love”. It is probably the most played-out word in my vocabulary. It hit me the hardest after seven years of marriage when the mantra of “I love you, baby” started falling on deaf ears. It had been said and heard so much that her ears were numbed to its meaning. Maybe she wondered “does he love me like he loved that New York Strip we had at dinner, or maybe he loves me like he loves the “total stranger” quarterback on his favorite team.”
Then the real weight hit me when I was talking to God one afternoon. It was sweet moment of fellowship with Him when I whispered “I love you Lord”. The next thought in my head was “do I love Jesus like I love sleeping in on Saturday mornings?” Do I love Him like I love beating the high score on a Nintendo game?” Do I love Him like I love a free upgrade to first class on a long flight, or like I love the sound a golf ball makes when you hit it just right? Disgusted by the shallowness of my affection, I asked God “What does it mean to love you?” I heard this so clearly in my heart, “TO LOVE ME IS TO HATE WHAT IS NOT ME.”
As a society we love sitcoms, hobbies, food, clothes; almost anything can be labeled by love. So it is easy to tell God we “love him.” Just like it’s easy to tell the barista at Starbucks that we would love a low-fat caramel macchiato. We’ve so abused that word that it virtually means nothing. So when God commands us to love the Lord with all our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies; we say no problem. But there is a real problem, because in turn we must also hate anything that is not of Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and body.
Hate is not a word that gets thrown around as much. It is not as distorted in its meaning as love is. So it paints a truer picture in our hearts of where we stand. Do you hate Greed? Do you despise disobedience? Do you loath lust? It’s not so easy to answer those questions as haphazardly. Would you rather die than gossip about your neighbor’s short comings? Would you rather pluck out your own eyes then imagine what’s under that mini-skirt? Would you rather amputate your hand then raise it in anger to your spouse or kids? Now, ask yourself honestly do we really love Him?
Here’s the answer….Your love for Him can be measured by the same degree that you hate sin!
Would you rather never speak another word; then tell a joke you know He disapproves of? Would you rather be “entertained” or enter in to His Glorious Presence? Would you gladly embrace the pain of telling the truth or escape into the ease of a lie? Is being right more important to you then being righteous? Would you rather have Him, or your next fix?
I know it’s a lot of questions but I want you to think about all of these.
Can you recite this sports season statistics, but not the secrets in His scripture? Do you spend more time in the mirror putting on make up, then in His word putting on the armor of God? Do you really hate the very secular song that is stuck in your head right now?
So Do we really Love Him???
Personally I would have to answer that, not as much as I thought I did.
Now the last question is. Do you really WANT to love Him?
If your answer is yes, Jesus died to give you that privilege. Just stop playing games and tell Him the truth. You are where you are. Only He can change that, but only you can let Him. Religion has taught us to stop being honest with ourselves and to put on a mask. But you can’t see God’s face till you take the mask off yours. In living the religious life we have robbed ourselves of true transformation. This is how it is supposed to work. This is the way God intended our journey towards Him to progress. We draw near to God and He draws near to us. When we draw near to Jesus, He reveals our sin to us; we repent, or let me use a better word we CHANGE (only by His Grace). Then we take another step into the depths of His splendor, and He reveals even more of our sin to us. So we CHANGE again and again and again. This is the process from Glory to Glory to Glory. So don’t be discouraged by the things that have separated you from true intimacy with Him. Just repent, receive His empowerment and CHANGE. That is how you will come to truly love Him and to hate what He hates. We get there by confessing we’re not there yet, and then submitting to His leading and following Him to our destiny in His arms.
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