God's love for all of us is so great, that He went to great lengths in pursuing us. However, many Christians who profess to "love Jesus" are simply content with giving God less than what He actually deserves from us. Why are we putting limits to the love we give to the Lord?
In his book "Crazy Love," author and pastor Francis Chan explains that while God relentlessly pursued us, wooing us with His love, we as Christians don't reciprocate that love with what we should give. Most of us love God with our mouths but not with our lives.
The Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 7, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." We cannot afford to call Him "Lord" but not follow Him wholeheartedly!
Here are a few things that will help you love God more than you do now:
1) Think about how much He loves you.
God loved you so much that He sent His one and only Son to take your place on the cross, and all that you ever needed to do was to just believe in what He has done (John 3:16). The problem is, because we find it hard to believe that God will ever love us, we tend to think lightly of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
But the truth is that Christ did die in your place! Imagine the pain it must have caused the Father to see His Son being punished for our sin, just so that we could be reconciled to Him. It's a double-edged sword – the Father seeing the Son's pain, and the Son being in pain. All for you and me!
2) Think about what you were when you were saved.
Paul admonishes in 1 Corinthians 1:26, "Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called." Simply put, we were sinners without hope in ourselves.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
3) Think about who God is.
God is the creator of everything, yet He loved you. All of creation worships Him (see Psalm 19:1), and yet He chose to pursue you. He is complete in Himself, but wants to have a relationship with you. He doesn't need anything from you, and simply wants you to be with Him. Isn't that enough reason for you to love Him with all that you've got? Love Him, and then those whom He loves!
"Jesus [said]: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'." (Matthew 22:37-39)
