EPHESIANS 6:24 – Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

THEME OF THE DAY. NOT PERFECTLY, BUT SINCERELY. The 19th century pastor/theologian and Bishop J. C. Ryle wrote, “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.” Meditate on this profound insight on God’s love. What the good Bishop is implying is on that day of all days, when we see Jesus, His love will be so overwhelming, so magnificent, and so fulfilling, we will be lost in awe and adoration. And perhaps indeed we will think, “Why didn’t we love Him more in this life?”

It is the longing and pursuit of every child of God to love Him. Ask any Christian if they do, and all would respond, “Yes, I love the Lord.” And in conversations with Christians about Christians, we often hear, “They love the Lord.” We should be able to say that of one another and certainly be able to affirm that in our own lives, but these words are very easy to speak. Sadly, I have been in conversations with Christians who talk of other Christians affirming how they love the Lord, yet, observing their lives, one sees spiritual neglect and tolerated sin; the things contrary to loving the Lord. And even in my own life at times, I need to be careful not to mindlessly blurt out, “I love you, Lord” while there are sinful things I am holding onto like a critical spirit and a judgmental heart. It is a good and wise exercise to ask ourselves, “Do we love the Lord?” and then follow that up with a clear assessment of our lives to see if we are giving the evidence of that love which is obedience to God’s commandments (John 14:15). We betray our profession of loving the Lord if known disobedience exists in our lives. And that leads us to the topic of the day . . .

We sin. Even as God’s children, we sin. Hopefully not willfully and premeditated. And hopefully, we hate it when we do sin and immediately run to the Lord Jesus in confession and repentance. This is the reality of the Christian life. The Apostle Paul describes our daily experience, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15). Let’s whittle that down to our love for the Lord. We long to love Him perfectly, but we don’t. And it grieves us. We see too many times of self-love quenching love for Him, and it makes us sad. Sometimes, we may even despair of our lack of love for Him. But don’t . . . remember God knows our frame. He remembers we are but dust and failing flesh (Psalm 103:14). That doesn’t give us a pass against putting sin to death, and should we entertain “coasting” in the Christian life because of God’s understanding grace, we are in a bad spiritual place. His love in remembering our weakness is a motivator to strive more and more for holiness and sinning less. So, we know our failure to love God perfectly in this life, but let’s be encouraged because we can love Him sincerely in this life. And here are two things which would affirm that we do indeed love the Lord Jesus sincerely.

First, we will not tolerate, play with, or make light of the very thing He died for – our sin. To love Him sincerely means to avoid at all cost what He died for – sin. The Apostle Paul wrote, “The Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19). Friends, we cannot love Jesus and sin. We cannot cling to what killed Him. Love for sin and love for Christ is incompatible.

A second sign of sincere love for Jesus is pursuing what He is . . . holy, holy, holy. The whole of the Christian life is conforming to His image. This requires all-out war against anyone and anything which would interfere or divert us from this divine purpose. And this is not a call to religious legalism, but a life of progressive and intentional obedience to His commands. Remember His words, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”, not perfectly, but sincerely (John 14:15).

So, we cannot love God in this life perfectly. Someday we will but for now, we can love Him sincerely. May we strive to do so each day of life He gives us.

PRAYER: “Father, show me more the excellency of Your Son that I may love Him more each passing day.”

QUOTE: “Someday we will love Christ perfectly, but in this life, we can learn to love Him sincerely.”