I happen to love the old hymns…AND the newer choruses. I know this has been a “hot topic” in many churches over the years and unfortunately has split many congregations. I believe they all have their place in our daily lives along with our time of corporate worship…and God can use both to speak to us as we worship Him.
One of my favorite hymns is “My Jesus I Love Thee”. Let me share the words with you:
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Reading through these words made me conclude that we often make discipleship training too difficult. As a result, we have many Christians going through life not having a clue as to what a truly devoted follower of Christ should look like. To me this is tragic and very disturbing. We have Christians who look no different than those who do not profess to have a relationship with Him. They are attending the same movies, watching the same television shows, telling the same jokes, cheating on their spouse and backstabbing at work to move up the ladder. With their mouth they acknowledge their Savior, but their actions don’t back up their words.
What we need to emphasize to followers of Christ is that their responsibility is to concentrate on their relationship with Him. If the relationship is not where it should be, then fruit will not be seen in their life. Now at this point you may be thinking, “Well duh, LuAnn, everybody knows that!” Do they? Do you?
Let me explain. If we really believe the words to the song I included, then our walk should prove it. If we truly love our Jesus and desire to turn all of our sin over to Him, then that should be our guide as to how we live. When we get up in the morning, if we truly love our Jesus, then there should be no place for mistreating our spouse or our children. If we truly love our Jesus, then we should never desire to step on other people in our workplace just to obtain a higher status. If we truly love our Jesus, then we should never desire to attend a function where we know Jesus would not approve. If we truly love our Jesus, then the thought of cheating on our spouse should never be an option. If we truly love our Jesus, our priorities and our schedule should be an outgrowth of our love for Him.
What we fail to realize is that the choices we make each day, make it obvious to others what condition our relationship with Him is in. No one has to be a rocket scientist to see whether we truly love our Jesus or not, just by listening to our words and watching our actions. Not only does it show others whether or not we love Him, it also refutes all the excuses we can muster. No longer can we blame our parents, our children, or our friends for our behavior, because they are not responsible for our relationship with our Jesus; only we are.
I’m wondering if maybe Discipleship 101 could just be: Love Jesus. If we truly love Him, then how we live every day should be an outpouring of that love. It really is as simple as that.
How much do you love Jesus today? Maybe a better question would be, “Do others know how much you love your Jesus?” If they don’t, then maybe you need to re-think your priorities and make some changes in your schedule this week. When the right choices are made, we can then sing without reservation, “If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ‘tis NOW.”
“If you love me, obey my commandments.”
John 14:15
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