The Very Real Love of Christ

Oct 29, 2009 by desiringvirtue

‘“…The people talk strangely about [Christian]. Some say he now walks in white, that he has a chain of gold about his neck, or that he has on his head a crown of gold set with pearls. Others say the Shining Ones who sometimes showed themselves to him during his journey have become his companions, and that he is just as familiar with them in the place where he is as one neighbor is with another here. Besides, it’s confidently affirmed concerning him, that the King of that place where he is has bestowed upon him a very rich and pleasant dwelling at court and that every day he eats and drinks and walks and talks with Him and receives smiles and favors there from Him who is Judge of All.’

‘Moreover,’ continued Sagacity, ‘it is expected by some that his Prince, the Lord of that country, will soon come into these parts and will desire to know the reason-if they can give any-why his neighbors treated him so lightly and made fun of him so much when they saw that he would be a Pilgrim. For they say that he is now held in so much affection by his Prince, and that his King is so much concerned with the indignities that were cast upon Christian when he became a Pilgrim, that He will look upon everyone as if those things were done to himself. And it’s not surprising, for it was because of the love Christian had for his Prince that he did what he did.’” -John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress

How deep is the love of Christ! Can we ever comprehend the weight of love that is lavished upon us? Can we even begin to comprehend the overwhelming joy that will fill us as we stand before the King of the Universe and feel his loving presence? To be so intimately acquainted with the one who’s love has no boundaries is an incomprehensible gift-one that we will thank him for all of eternity for.

It is hard to grasp the love of Christ daily without taking it for granted. It becomes a normal, everyday, tarnished thing. Its luster slowly fades as we talk about it over and over, as we sing about it over and over, as we hear about it over and over. It becomes a philosophical idea rather than a real emotional experience. Our religion becomes a list rather than a relationship, rather than a love. How do you keep this from happening? How do you revive your spirit, stir up those groanings and longings for the Savior?

We must remind ourselves of the gospel. We must remind ourselves of our sin and the just penalty of death that hung over us until Christ chose to love us. We must remind ourselves of our unloveliness, of our disgustingness. We must remember that we hated Christ, that our sin was a constant act of retaliation against his love. We must remember that in spite of all these things he chose to love us. He died for our murderous, adulterous, perverse hearts. He bled and suffered for our filthiness. He chose to allow the disgusting sinners of this earth to nail his perfect, stainless hands and feet to a horrible cross. He chose to slowly suffocate to death in his own lung fluid as he gasped for enough breath to finish our salvation. He did all of this so that we could be cleansed. He cleansed us so that we could understand his love and feel his love. He took away our filthiness so that we could love him.

We must remind ourselves of the promises he has made to us. He has promised to return for us. He has promised that our faith, our blind faith, will be rewarded with visual, physical affirmation. We will stand with him in glory and enjoy his presence forever without the guilt of sin hanging around our necks. Wrongs will be made right and evil will be punished. The suffering we encounter here has all been counted, it is all under his watch. He will avenge the wrong that has been done to us for the sake of his name; he will be glorified. He has promised to cleanse our heart forever and make us white as snow. We will be able to stand before the Holy God and not shrink away because of Christ’s love for us.

When you remember these things it is pretty easy to feel his love, to love his love, to sing about his love, to preach his love. But there is more that leads us to love Christ than our experience and future with him. Christ himself is enough to elicit the most profound love from the depths of our souls. Think about his pure character, his power, his gentleness, his generosity, his strength, this moral purity, his empathy, his ability to forgive sin, his eternality, his friendliness, his holiness, his majesty, the list could go on and on. Christ is supremely worthy of love because he is Christ.