There are times when I struggle greatly with my faith – not in my mind where I hold fast to the knowledge of the glorious gospel of grace, a knowledge which I have articulated in many if not most of my previous posts. My struggle is where it matters most, in my heart, the center of my deepest affections, desires, longings and motivations. Although I truly believe what is in my mind regarding Jesus Christ, who He is and what He accomplished at great cost to Himself to save -as John Newton put it – a wretch like me, such knowledge has not always produced the peace of mind, the ease of conscience, the rest in my soul, the joy in my heart and the closeness to and love for God that He intends for it to do.
The embracing of such knowledge should set my (your) heart aflame in unbridled worship – in passionate love and devotion – in ever increasing praise and adoration of the one who loved me and gave Himself for me, rescuing me from the Hell I deserve and qualifying me for a Heaven I could never deserve (Luke 10:20). However, all too often there is in me a listless, dispirited heart attitude of Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so – ho hum.
The combination of my sinful past, my ongoing battle with my remaining sin, my impatience with my sanctification and my perception of the futility of my prayers tend to mute the zeal and enthusiasm I should have in proclaiming and rejoicing in the glory of God as revealed in Christ, and in pursing and worshiping Him alone as the desire of my heart and the delight of my soul – the one alone who deserves to be loved with all of my heart, soul and strength.
Now, if you carefully read the beginning of the preceding paragraph, you will see it filled with my subjective experiences, all downers, that focus on me and my failures rather than on the glory of Christ and His glorious work of redeeming me from me, from my inordinate worship of self that is behind all of my (our) foolishness, failures, fears and misery (Matthew 16:24) (Acts 20:24) (Galatians 2:20). And the sooner we can get our eyes off ourselves and on to Him alone – the sooner we will know the peace of mind, ease of conscience, rest in our souls, and joy in our heart that Jesus came into this world to give us (John 14:27) (Romans 8:1) (Matthew 11:28-30) (John 15:9-11).
The revelation of Christ’s glory – of His worthiness to be loved above all else in creation, and of the immensity of His love for man demonstrated and displayed on Calvary, are the central focus of the gospel, and thus are to be the central focus of our new hearts and renewed minds (Ezekiel 36:26) (Romans 12:2) (2 Corinthians 4:6) (Romans 5:8). It is revelation, though given first to our minds, that is meant to draw out our hearts to Him as the object of our deepest love and source of our present and eternal joy.
To this end, we are commended and commanded to “Set your mind/affections on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2-4); to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16); and to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”, … (Hebrews 12:1-2).
The Apostle Paul was well aware of our tendency to become lethargic in running this race and to at times lose heart because of our own trials and failures and/or the trials and failures of those around us. Thus, he prays in Ephesians 3:14-21:
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Love, as revealed in the Bible, is a commitment to the highest good of another, even at great cost to ourselves as Christ exemplified (1 John 4:8-10) (Romans 5:8). God’s love for His people is essentially His divine inclination, commitment and capacity to make us exceedingly, abundantly and eternally happy in Him (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 16:9-11).
Thus Paul’s stated purpose in the above set of petitions is that we would know, not just have an intellectual knowledge of, but an intimate and personal experience in our inner man, our heart, of being loved immensely, personally, and unconditionally by the most glorious, most desirable, most excellent, most essential, most awesome, most valuable, most powerful being in the universe, the creator and sovereign ruler of that universe, the triune God – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, a knowing that will produce in us an unsurpassed love for Him, such that I would no longer live my life for me, but for and unto Him who loved me and gave His life for me (1 John 4:19) (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Only when we are rooted and grounded in such a relationship with God, through Jesus (which we should pray for daily), will we be able to sing from the depths of our hearts, Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so – Halleluiah! Glory to God! Thank you Jesus, Amen!!!.
Please enjoy and be encouraged by the music linked below.
Grace and Peace ×
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus O The Deep Deep Love of Jesus
AMEN James AMEN.
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