Is It Not Your Love for Christ?

Christian,

What gets you out of bed in the morning?
What fills you with joy?
What is it that gives you the power to love your neighbor?
What is it that enables you to give freely and generously?
What drives you to care for the orphan and the widow?
What makes you hospitable?
What causes you to forgive?
What lifts away your anxiety?
What drives away your depression?
What brings freedom from your besetting sin?
What causes you to pray without ceasing?
What is the reason you think of heaven each day?
What gives meaning to the mundane?
What drives your ambition for the kingdom?
What brings you to your church on Sunday morning?
What enables comfort when the future looks dim?
What is it that makes you lay your life down?

What is it, christian, that makes you different?

Is it not your love for Christ?

Is it not your love for Christ that fills your heart with hope?
Is it not your love for Christ that brings you strength in pain?
Is it not your love for Christ that compels you to obey your Lord; forsaking your own gain?

Have you forgotten your first love (Revelation 2:4)? Has your heart grown lukewarm (Revelation 3:16)? Do you still love your Lord? Your Savior? Do you feel something leap within you at the mention of His name? Do you yearn to be with another soul who possesses this love? Do you ask your Heavenly Father for counsel in everything you do? Do you crave more time to worship Him in song?

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

This must be the test for genuine christian faith. Many will claim that they believe in God. Many will admit that they think Jesus was a real man. Many will submit that their religion and faith are very important to them. They may care deeply about their church, they may serve, and they may pray to God. Many—oh, so many—will call themselves christians. But how many can answer this question truthfully, with integrity and sincerity: “Do you love Christ?”

In his book, “Holiness” J.C. Ryle expounds on the question:

And what was the question that He asked him? He might have said:-"Believest thou? Art thou converted? Are thou ready to confess Me? Wilt thou obey Me?" He uses none of these expressions. He simply says, "lovest thou Me?" This is the point, He would have us know, on which a man's Christianity hinges. Simple as the question sounded, it was most searching. Plain and easy to be understood by the most unlearned poor man, it contains matter which tests the reality of the most advanced apostle. If a man truly loves Christ, all is right-if not, all is wrong.

Ryle, J.C.. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (p. 192).

There is no second guessing. There is no hesitation. There is no consideration of the possibility that they might love something else more. This is the one thing they know for sure. The christian knows that Jesus has saved them, and they can’t help but feel the most fierce admiration, awe, connection, and loyalty towards Him. They treasure Him. They delight in Him. They are satisfied in Him.

This is the way that our faith can be found out. We are identified by our love.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:19)

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:27)

“If God were your Father, you would love me” (John 8:42)

If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! (1 Corinthians 16:22 says:)

This love is the spring from which everything else flows. We want to cling to obedience and works for assurance. Those are downstream! They are secondary. They are fruits on the tree. If we love God we will keep His commandments. If we aren’t obeying, we must go back to the well. We must remind ourselves of our first love. We must ask God to revive our hearts. We must obey the greatest commandment.

Love for Christ is the only inexhaustible source of motivation. It is the only well that does not run dry. When it causes us to be filled with joy one day, it is not depleted the next day. When it causes us to sacrifice our weekend to help a neighbor, it is not lessened on Monday morning. This energy source is endless. No other thought is deeper. When we think about how He saved us, there is nothing else we need meditate on. There is no thought sweeter than this: “and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”

Love to Christ is the mainspring of work for Christ. There is little done for His cause on earth from sense of duty, or from knowledge of what is right and proper. The heart must be interested before the hands will move and continue moving. Excitement may galvanize the Christian's hands into a fitful and spasmodic activity. But there will be no patient continuance in well-doing, no unwearied labour in missionary work at home or abroad, without love.

Ryle, J.C.. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (p. 193).

Ryle goes on to wonder at the simplicity of this reality.

There are myriads of Christians who know every article of the Athanasian, Nicene, and Apostolic Creeds, and yet know less of real Christianity than a little child who only knows that he loves Christ.

It is simple, yet powerful. Read the following excerpt.

The words which John Bunyan puts in the mouth of Mr. Standfast as he stood in the river of death are very beautiful. He said, "This river has been a terror to many; yea, the thoughts of it also have often frightened me. But now methinks I stand easy: my foot is fixed upon that on which the priests that bear the ark stood while Israel went over Jordan. The waters indeed are to the palate bitter, and to the stomach cold; yet the thoughts of what I am going to, and of the convoy that waits for me on the other side, lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the end of my journey; my toilsome days are ended. I am going to see that Head which was crowned with thorns, and that Face which was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearing and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight, and be with Him in whose company I delight myself. I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and wherever I have seen the print of His shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too. His name has been to me a civet-box; yea, sweeter than all perfumes! His voice to me has been most sweet; and His countenance I have more desired than they that have desired the light of the sun!" Happy are they that know something of this experience! He that would be in tune for heaven must know something of love to Christ. He that dies ignorant of that love had better never have been born.

Ryle, J.C.. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (p. 194).

Do you see it? Do you feel it? Like John Piper says, loving Jesus is, “no less than a feeling.” Does something in you stir when you read quotes like that in Pilgrim’s Progress?

It’s why we say “amen!” during a sermon.
It’s why we tear up during baptisms.
It’s why we never stop reading His words.
It’s why we never stop writing songs to Him.
It’s why we keep telling stories that make much of Him.
It’s why we live quiet, humble, joy-filled lives for Him.

Those who know nothing of it look at us with confusion. They do not understand why we do the things that we do. They know nothing of love for Christ.

What is love? Do I have it?

Ryle offers helpful considerations.

If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name, or his appearance, or his character, or his opinions, or his tastes, or his position, or his occupation. He comes up before our mind's eye many a time in the day. Though perhaps far distant, he is often present in our thoughts. (p. 195)
If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report which others make of him. We are all attention when others talk about him and describe his ways, his sayings, his doings, and his plans. Some may hear him mentioned with utter indifference, but our own hearts bound within us at the very sound of his name. (p. 195)
If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother. Others may see little worth notice in the letter. They can scarcely take the trouble to read it through. But those who love the writer see something in the letter which no one else can. They carry it about with them as a treasure. They read it over and over again. (p. 195)
If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice, and do the things which he approves. We even deny ourselves to meet his wishes, abstain from things which we know he dislikes, and learn things to do which we are not naturally inclined, because we think it will give him pleasure. (p. 196)
If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favourably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love to one and the same person. When we meet them we do not feel that we are altogether strangers. There is a bond of union between us. (p. 196)
If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honour. We do not like to hear him spoken against without speaking up for him and defending him. We feel bound to maintain his interests and his reputation. We regard the person who treats him ill with almost as much disfavour as if he had ill-treated us. (p. 196)
If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation. (p. 196)
Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking, and hearing, and reading, and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more. We long to be always in their company. We wish to be continually in their society, and to hold communion with them without interruption or farewell. (p. 197)

Conclusion

The Lord was kind enough to revive my love for Christ earlier this year. The changes were more than noticeable to me. I’m not perfect, but my desires are different than they used to be. The things I care about. The things I think about. Something is different. The past few days, I have found myself on walks, just thinking about Him. I’m moved by songs and stories in ways I never was. I’m drawn to certain people more who love Him too. I have a fierce desire to please Him now, more than ever.

And then I read chapter 15 in Mr. Ryle’s book, and it all clicked. Everything fell into place in my mind. It felt like I had discovered the secret of Christianity—except, it’s not a secret at all. It’s everywhere, right in front of my face. It’s the greatest commandment! I looked back in my journal from several months ago—after a conference—and read the last sentence:

I wondered if the new love for Jesus and the Bible was something that would really stay in me. (Me, August 2024)

Well, someone must have prayed for me then, and the Holy Spirit listened. God is good.

We should talk about it more. It would be better if we would cut out the fluff, the distractions, the trivial things, and remember our roots, our first love. I’m convinced that if we make this our focus, all other things will fall into place. Cultivate your love for Jesus, and you need not worry about other things. When He is your heart’s true desire, you will grow in all the ways that you need to, as He sees fit. Love Him more! Encourage those around you to. We need to be reminded.

If you find your zeal expired or your affections dull, ask for God to fill you anew with this love for Him. If you are bored with church, or life, worn down by the weight of the world, go back to the cross, and remember your salvation in Jesus. The gospel changed you, and it will continue doing so.

I’ll leave you with Ryle’s powerful closing sentence.

May we never think that we can love Christ too well, live to Him too thoroughly, confess Him too boldly, lay ourselves out for Him too heartily! Of all the things that will surprise us in the resurrection morning, this, I believe, will surprise us most: that we did not love Christ more before we died.

Ryle, J.C.. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (p. 200)

Reference

Ryle, J.C.. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots. Kindle Edition.
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/loving-jesus-more-than-life