“What or who do You Love More than Jesus? - Author and Writer, Ronald Nelson

”BIBLE MEDITATION:"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John 3:16

ENCOURAGING WORD:

This is a very important question we all should ask ourselves because the answer that you give has eternal consequences. Jesus requires complete and unconditional love from all who choose to follow Him. If you ask people this question, many will say without hesitation, “Yes, I love Jesus, but the question is how much? I would be willing to bet that earthly positions are more important to people than their love for Jesus Christ, in fact I would be willing to bet my life on it. We read a good example of this in;

Mark 10:17; “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 

Then Jesus asked him if he had kept the law. He said yes. In love Jesus responded, Mark 10:21-22; “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me" But the rich man was "sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions"

Jesus let him go. Jesus didn't run after him. And there's another thing I want you to notice: Jesus didn't lower His standards. I believe it would be hard pressed to find anybody willing to give up everything that they have and follow Jesus in these days in which we live. The fact of the matter is this: Jesus doesn’t expect us to give up everything we have; He just wants us to make sure that we know that all of our possessions came from Him. One thing we need to know is that everything that we have, whether it be physical, spiritual or material, it has all been given to us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in; John 10; 10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Jesus wants us to enjoy life, but we must make sure that we remember who is responsible for the Blessings that we have. We must make sure that we give praise and honor to Jesus Christ for everything and make sure that our love and devotion for Him far out ways our love for possessions. When we leave this world, all that is going to matter is the love that we have for Jesus, all other things will parish. Jesus had this to say to His disciples in;

Matthew 16: 24-25; “Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”Here is a word of wisdom and absolute truth; “Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn; Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne; Only one life, "twill soon be past, Only what's done for Christ will last!

John 13:1; “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

Is there anything you love more than Jesus? You must willingly lay it down at the feet of Jesus to be saved. I’ve noticed in my own life, that every time I took credit for what I had or did, Jesus quickly reminded me that without Him I would have nothing, so what I thought I was responsible for, was removed from me as quickly as I received it. It took quite a few hard-pressed years in my life before I really understood that everything thing I ever had was by no means something that I earned or accomplished on my own. Whether it was physical, intellectual, spiritual, or financial, it was all a gift from Jesus Christ. He truly blessed me throughout my life, and I never gave Him credit until the days came when he virtually had to bang me upside the head to get my attention. Sometime when we feel the wrath of obedience come upon us, we have a hard time believing that we are loved by God in any way, shape, or form. But the day comes when you realize just how much He truly does love you and the trials that He allowed into your life were for spiritual growth and to prevent you from falling deeper into sin.

If you ever feel a desire to question Gods love for you, quickly look to the cross. Because of His love for you and me, God came physically to the earth in the personage of Jesus Christ to pay for your sins and mine. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross suffering more than anyone of us could ever imagine, it was not the nails that held Him there, it was His love for you and I. He could at any time have said, “Enough is enough” I’m out of here.” But He didn’t and we need to be on bended knees every day thanking Him for the sacrifice that he made so that we would not have to spend eternity in hell!

John 15:13 tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

If everyone of us could have witnessed His death at the cross, we would all be believers. Here is what we need to do, imagine that you are at the feet of Jesus Christ when He hung on the cross suffering for our sins, that should be enough to know how much Jesus loves us. I always imagine standing at the foot of the cross, and seeing Jesus look down at me and He say, “I did this for you.” Jesus went willfully to the cross to suffer for our sins so we wouldn’t have to. If we had to pay for our own sins, which will happen to those that don’t repent of their sins and turn to Jesus, we would end up in “The Lake of Burning Fire” for all eternity. Unbelievers will be tormented every minute that they are in hell, which is forever. Jesus suffered for us so we wouldn’t have to go there because He knew how horrible it is going to be. God created hell for Satan and His fallen angels, not for mankind, but when man fell in the Garden of Eden, that all changed. Those that follow Satan will spend eternity in the same place that Satan and his fallen angels will be. There are those that say, If God is so good, why would He sent anybody to hell? God will not send anybody to hell, He did all He could to keep us from going there. He gave us a free gift called grace. (unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification) See, God is Holy and He can’t allow sinful man to enter into heaven. If He could, then He wouldn’t be Holy. Sin has to be dealt with and since we can’t pay for our own sins, He had to come to earth, live a perfectly pure sinless life, and because He was sinless, He was the only one who could take our sins upon Himself, and pay the price we owe because we can’t pay for our own sins, because we, ourselves are sinful. If Jesus was sinful, He couldn’t have paid our debt.

Let me give you an example. Lets say you owe the bank ten thousand dollars. Could some else that had the same debt, pay your debt? No, because He had debt of His own. You would need help from someone without any debt. A pour man cannot help another pour man because they are both pour. So, only someone who is without sin can pay for our sins, and Jesus was the only perfect spotless Lamb of God who could pay that price for us. Without Him, we would all die in our sins and the price of sin is death. We would all be condemned, where our final destination would be “The Lake of Burning Fire”.

Once again we read, John 15:13 tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

So, in return, all He desires from us is our love, and He deserves our unconditional obedience to His Word. But with all this being said, Jesus Christ will not force His love on anybody, He gave us free will to choose what we will. This is where we come in. Receive His love or reject His love, it’s your choice. Gods greatest gift to mankind.

We read in what is probably the most popular verse in the Bible; John 3:16; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 

Don’t just read these words in passing, meditate on what is really being said. Do you truly believe on Him whom the Father has sent? Your eternity rests on your decision to believe or reject this absolute truth. Outer darkness awaits for those that reject this truth, paradise awaits those that accept and love Jesus Christ…I mean, truly love Jesus Christ! Not in words only but in action. Take a good look at yourself and ask this question, do you have anything that is more important to you than your relationship with Jesus Christ. I think when you really dig deep into your soul, you will find that Jesus Christ is not at the top of your list. You have but a little time to change all of that, don’t hesitate, tomorrow is not promised to any of us. Use today wisely, you may not have tomorrow! 

Galatians 2:20; “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

The greatest love story ever told was written on a wooden cross two thousand years ago.  Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ is the recipient of this love story. He didn’t have to come to earth to pay for our sins, He could have left us in the state we were in and let us spend eternity in the lake of burning fire forever, but because of His love for you and me, He paid a price that he didn’t owe, because we owe a price that we couldn’t pay. If you can reject this offer of salvation from the one who died for you, then I can say without hesitation, you don’t have a heart! Jesus di say in the following Bible verse; Jeremaih 17:9; “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? The heart is deceitfully wicked, but those who give their lives over to Jesus Christ, have had their heart cleansed.

Here are seven Bible Verses about Cleansing Your Heart.

Psalm 51:10; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Notice, only God can create a clean heart in us. 

Matthew 5:8; “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

Psalm 24:4; “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.”

Proverbs 4:23; Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

James 4:8; “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

1 Peter 1: 22; “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,”

John 14:1; “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”

All conditions of the heart.

Any day is the perfect day to talk about love. If you ask people what the greatest love story ever told is you would get many different answers. Some may say Romeo and Juliet or Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Maybe some would say Johnny Cash and June Carter or Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

All of these that I mentioned definitely portray stories of true love. But, what if I told you that the greatest love story ever told is one that involves YOU? I promise it does, and it goes like this…

Once upon a time, there was a fallen world lost in sin, unable to attain righteousness and uphold the law as it was written. All mankind was doomed because of their inability to follow the commands of God. It was a time in which there was seemingly was no hope. The people may not have known it, but they needed someone to help them; to show them the way in which they should go.

God saw that this was a helpless situation without His intervention. He knew that His people were failing. He also knew He had to do something for His these people that He loved beyond words. God, knowing there was only one way in which to save the world, made up His mind. He was going to go to earth, become a man, and save His lost people....

Do not underestimate the plan that God had set in motion. This plan was created out of God’s unconditional love for each and every one of us. As I said before, there is no love story in history that can compare to this one. Jeremiah 31:3; “The Lord has appeared of old saying to me: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you’” The story continues like this…

So, God sent Jesus, His Son, who was God in flesh; 1 Timothy 3:16; “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God  was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”

He came to earth and had one objective – to save us… ALL of us. While here on earth, Jesus traveled around and taught others, He performed miracles, He healed the sick, and cast out demons. He spoke to those around Him, teaching the very things that He needed them to learn. These things He taught were relevant not only then, but today, as well. Although His teachings and miracles were awesome, these things were not the basis for Him being born a man. Jesus was on earth to SAVE all mankind.

Jesus knew what He was sent to earth to do. He was here to fulfill the prophecies about the New Covenant as they were written in; Jeremiah 31:31-34: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

As Jesus lived and breathed, He was a sinless man. He did no wrong. He loved others more than Himself and served others with a gentle and lowly heart. Jesus states in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus knew what He was here to do. And it was out of love for each and every one of us that He did it all. Jesus was kind and loving to everyone, but He was betrayed by His friend and disciple, Judas, to be given over to His enemies. And although Jesus was without sin, He was convicted, without cause and sentenced to die… FOR US!

God knew that man could not live under the Old Covenant Law…it was impossible. Romans 7:6 says, “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” 

Jesus was sent to earth to die for everyone. He took on all of our sins and was condemned to death in order that we may have eternal life. Jesus became the New Covenant.

In; Luke 22:20; Jesus “took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

Jesus was found guilty of OUR crimes. He received the ultimate punishment for what WE did. He was brutally beaten, spit on, cursed, mocked, and nailed to a cross for US… on behalf of US. Can you think of a greater love than that? He didn’t have to do it. He wasn’t persuaded to do it. In fact, He could have stopped it if He so chose to. But He did it out of love, pure love. Jesus loved us so much that He literally DIED for us.

This was prophesied in the book of  Daniel, Daniel 9:26a; “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;

He would be killed, but not for any crime that he committed, as it states, “But Not For Himself” Jesus paid for our crimes. Our crimes toward humanity.  

He said, John 15:13; “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”.

The love that Jesus has for us is beyond our comprehension. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that he hoped that they would be filled with the fullness of God.  Ephesians 3:18-19; “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” We will never be able to understand this kind of love

No matter what we do, the love God has for us will never fade; it will never fail. It is love in the purest form and without condition. It is a promise that we all need to accept and embrace, and we will never be apart from it.

In Romans 8:38-39, Paul describes God’s love this way: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That is the most precious form of love that could ever exist. And He loves YOU in that way.

How amazing is that?

Three days after Jesus died on the cross, He arose from the dead and spent forty days on earth in His resurrected body. After those days, He ascended into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of God. He intercedes for us and has made us white as snow by His blood that was shed.

Mark 16:19; “So then, after the Lord had spoken with them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.”

Romans 8:34;“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

We love our spouses, our sons and daughters, our parents and our brothers and sisters. We love our family and friends. But there is no way that we can ever love them the way Jesus loves us, the way He loves all of us. There is no love that will ever compare to His love. It is truly the “Greatest Love Story of All Time.”

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”

Praise, honor and glory to God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Amen!