What it means to Love Christ?

As Christians, we are to love Christ. But what does that mean?

As human beings, we experience love through connection with our senses. We see our loved ones, we feel their presence in our lives, we smell them, we embrace them and we love to hear their voices. It may not be the same with everybody, but in general, that is how we experience the love of our parents, siblings, friends, and partners.

But how can we love someone who we can't see, touch, or hear?

While Christ lived, died, and went to heaven long before we were born, that does not mean we can't experience his love for us.

The fact that Jesus died for us and cleansed us of our sins, goes to show his love for us. But, his love expands past the first century. Even in the modern era, he knows who we are, what we struggle with, and our future. For as David says in Psalms 139:16.

"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Yet how does one show their love for Christ?

Well, to understand how, we must realize that the love we experience or give to Christ, is not romantic love. But for simplicity's sake, think of the relationship like a marriage contract. The day you become saved is the day that you get "married." And like any other married couple, you will stay together until "death do us part." Except, in this case, death is not actually physical, rather spiritual. Once you believe in Christ died for you, your spirit will live forever with him, even after you physically die. However, the moment you refuse to come back to him, consider that contract broken. You will remain disconnected from him until you repent and turn back to him. And just like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32), you are welcomed back with open arms.

To prevent us from being disconnected from him, we must know what he stands for. Which leads to my next point.

The Bible may be written by men, but it was inspired by God. Therefore, we can say that all of the 66 books were written so that we may understand the mind of God, his standards, his laws, and how we should live our lives that is good according to him. All we have to do is to obey his word to please him.

Even though I did say our relationship with Christ is like a marriage, it is simultaneously a father-son relationship. Christ is part of the Holy Trinity that represents God, one of the figureheads of the Trinity is the Father. It's almost Father's day and most of us will be getting our fathers gifts. But the most basic way of showing our love for our dad is to obey him and to listen to when he corrects us. It is the same with God. As I said before, God had the Bible written so that we can know what he expects of us as his children.

It seems simple enough, right? Just follow the Ten Commandments and we are good!

Yeah, no.

In the New Testament Jesus always points out that the Pharisees (people who memorized God's word and taught Israel) were hypocrites because they did not bring what they taught into their lives. Remember, God sees the heart of men, and knows when a person has a genuine desire or not (1 Samuel 16:7).

Therefore, to love God is to desire to have a genuine relationship with him. To not only follow his Word but also dive into it and know our Creator. In addition to that, we are to represent everything he stands for. Right now the world is in chaos. There has never been so much hate and fear. With the BLM movement rising against the discrimination that has been around for centuries, I think its best that we all remind ourselves of the two greatest commandments Jesus gives in Mark 12:30-31.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.There is no commandment greater than these."