He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'”
~ Luke 10:27
Over the past few days I have woken up feeling like a school-girl in love. Any woman can tell you what that feels like, and if you don’t know just watch Disney’s animated movie “The Little Mermaid”, Ariel is the perfect example of a school-girl in love.
The difference between myself and Ariel is that my love is not felt toward an earthly man, it is felt towards my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ / God.
How did this love happen? Well, like any good relationship, it comes over time spent together. Talking, praying and even just sitting quietly with Jesus / God builds up the relationship. Focusing on other aspects of life break it down, just like any other relationship.
When you first meet a real man (as a teenager, older women are wiser in this matter) that you have a romantic interest in, you go out of your way to dress in ways he’ll find attractive, to “accidentally” bump into him at a certain place, to write love letters in your diary, and to talk about him with your friends until they no longer want to be around you because he is all you talk about. Your entire existence revolves around him. Why should our love for Jesus Christ / God be any different from this?
We can dress in ways Jesus / God will find attractive (modestly). We can see him at church every Sunday. We can write letters in our diary to him, and we even have the privilege to talk to him at any moment of the day (unlike a School-girl crush). We can talk to our friends about him. We can base our entire existence around Him! In fact this is what we should do! Jesus said himself “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”
I am sure that there are some people reading this who have never experienced that sort of love for Jesus / God. I hadn’t experienced it either until a few weeks ago, and I have only been experiencing it fully over the past few days. It takes constant prayer, and a dedication to focus on Jesus / God every minute of every day. It is something that rarely just happens. It takes work and many hours in prayer, but the rewards are phenomenal!
Deeper understanding, deeper trust, deeper faith, joyful heart, and a shining glow of love. It is a marvellous feeling and well worth the effort. Do yourself a favour and pray with a sincere heart every morning “Jesus, please help me to centre my life around you today. Allow your love to shine through me, and allow my love for you to grow today.” Then spend the rest of your day remembering that prayer and doing what you can to make it a reality in your life. As my fiancé always says “God helps those who help themselves”, meaning that if you try God will help you to succeed.
May God bless each and every one of you today and always.
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