Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
Summary: God wants more than recognition and obedience. He wants our love, too. In this closing passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find ourselves looking into the heart of our Lord Jesus.
Do you love Jesus?
Yes?
But do you really love him? Do you love him with an “undying love?”
Here, in the last sentence of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul flips the script. Throughout his letter, he has explained how Jesus loves us and what it means. Now, as if he were starting a new theme, he mentions that we are to love Jesus.
Not just with a passing love or a casual love, but the kind of love that never wavers and never ends.
It is natural for us to fall into a mode of thought that focuses on “me.” This self-centeredness is “natural,” not because we were made this way, but because after the Fall of Man (Genesis 2-3), humanity became spiritually isolated from God. We were torn apart from our Creator by our greed, and the result of our greediness changed human nature forever (Genesis 3:5).
What didn’t change was God’s love for us. Despite our greed, despite mankind choosing to sin (See Luke 15:11-32), our Father in heaven still loves us. He loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us so that we can be freed from the deadly consequences of our sins (Romans 5:8).
We are not the only ones looking for love. God is looking for love, too. Jesus summarized the entire Old Testament this way, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)
There are many kinds of “love,” and our English language does a poor job of distinguishing between them. There is a kind of love that is based on fear and respect, but there is another kind that is based on a desire to be close, emotionally and physically. It is a pure love, incorruptible and unending. This is the kind of love that God desires from us.
When we look back over Paul’s entire letter to the Ephesians and see all that God has done for us, it is hard not to be touched emotionally. The question that comes to mind is, “God did all this for me?”
Yes.
He did.
God loves you … and me.
Application: Allow your heart to be touched by God’s love.
Food for Thought: How does loving Jesus with an “undying love” change who we are?
If we can really do this, or at least keep growing in a love that never (or rarely) wanders or wanes, then we know Jesus more and more. More of Jesus is a good thing. We will find ourselves doing His will, loving others more, forgiving those who wronged us, bearing with the faults of others, sharing the gospel, doing works to glorify God, etc. We will experience more joy, peace, and other fruit of the Spirit. In other words, we will find ourselves becoming more and more like Jesus Himself.
Thank you, Rich.
Yes, I think you have put your finger on it: We become more like Jesus.
That is rather incredible, isn’t it? 🙂
In my younger years, I used to subscribe to the idea that a person can change their behavior, but who they were would never really change. In my walk with Jesus, I have learned that is only half correct. Jesus can change who we are. When He does, our behavior naturally changes. I think the undying love starts in little areas of our lives, and culminates to a life dedicated to Christ. I know that for me, when I give Him the areas of my life, He returns them to me transformed in truth, and I can’t return to the old way. I feel gratitude and love for that. That is where the love is “undying’, or another way to say it “living.”
Chris,
I get what you mean. It is one thing to change a behavior, it is another to change course.
I always felt that forcing change for the sake of change was a rather empty exercise, no matter how well intended. The only meaningful change I have found in life has been knowing Jesus.