Friday, April 15, 2011

To Love Christ

I have been thinking a bit lately about what it means to just love the Lord. It is a blessing that He has given us little hints of what it ought to be like within our relationships with others whether it be family or friends (or enemies... but we won't go there at this time). :) Do you ever sit down and think, "What would be the most loving thing for me to do right now?" If you don't do that, I would challenge you to start making a habit of it first and foremost in your relationship with the Lord, but also in your relationships with those around you. I was helped a friend of mine with filling out some applications and spiffing up his resume and so I went back and looked at a bunch of my applications and cover letters and letters of recommendation and all that fun stuff. It brought back many memories of many different interviews and challenges and yet pointed me to the incredible faithfulness and loveliness of Christ. I remember specifically in the first couple weeks of work when I was being told to do things that I really disliked... things that weren't making use of my skills... the "dirty work". I remember one of those mornings right before going into work and I heard that clear direction from the Lord... "love him [the person above me]".

This gave me a whole new view (at least experientially) on what it meant to love others... to whole-heartedly seek their best interests, etc. Since then, I have had many such opportunities to grow in this area. The biggest area (and one that I will always be able to grow in) is the area of loving Christ. The strange thing about this is that He is perfectly lovable in every way. This is not at all the case where I am having to seek the other person's best interests regardless of their treatment of me. In this case, He fully loves me regardless of my faults already. There is nothing about Him that is unlovely.

So I must ask myself... "What is best for You, Lord?"... "What would bring You glory today?"... "How can I work for You in these two hours before I get off work?"... "What would please You the most?"... "If You could change anything about me, what would it be?" I heard the song, "While I'm Waiting" from Fireproof on the radio this morning and those phrases, "I will worship while I'm waiting, I will serve You while I'm waiting", just resonated in my heart throughout the day today. It doesn't ultimately matter what He has me doing, but I must continually commit myself to love Him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. This results in heart-felt worship... not necessarily singing to Him (though that does happen), but the living-sacrifice type of worship. It is the worship of obedience based on love for the most lovable God.

God, make me to love You more... to seek Your will above my own... to seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness. Put in me a passion for serving You that cannot be quenched by the passing pleasures of sin. Teach me over and over the joy of serving Christ.

4 comments:

The Good Tale said...

Satan has deceived the whole world Rev 12:9, until he is bruised by a woman Gen 3:15 who delivers the true word John 1:1 to the whole world Rev 12:5, 13 from the wilderness Rev 12:6 as a witness. The deception that God will put any child of his in a hell fire is a lie of the devil and is now proven by the word of God at http://minigoodtale.blogspot.com Satan's lies are exposed not one child of God will go into a hell fire no matter what their sin. It has never entered the heart or mind of God to ever do such a thing Jer 7:31, Jer 19:5. Prophecy is fulfilled. Do as God says and prove all things.
Check out this amazing grace.

August said...

Thanks for this post, Daniel. It really touched a part of me that is more impatient for the future than loving in the present.

I miss chattin' with you, but your blog posts have blessed me in the past year when I've had the time to read them. Your passion for Christ is so beautiful to watch unfold as a young man striving after God.

---T

Laura Elizabeth said...

This was a very good post :)
Have you ever read 'The Loveliness of Christ' by Samuel Rutherford? It's really, really good.

Daniel Osborne said...

I haven't read it... I'll have to check it out. :)