Love & Sacrifice

I'm curious about this thing called love. As dictionary.com defines it;

1. A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.
2. A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.
3. An intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.
4. A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment.
5. An expression of one's affection: Send him my love.
6. A strong predilection or enthusiasm: a love of language.
7. The object of such an enthusiasm: The outdoors is her greatest love.

When we say we love something or someone, we end up spending the most time with that special thing/person. We are willing to sacrifice time for that.

In terms of possesion or activity, we often find ourselves centering our lives around it. Not only that, we are willing to do almost anything in order to have it or to be able to do it again. Nothing can stop us.

As for people, we want to be near them at all times. As countless love songs have reminded us, we are willing to die for them. We'd sacrifice everything just to be with them.

So as Christians, how do we show that we love Christ? By the definitions above, it means to want to be close to Him at all times. It means never letting go and doing anything so that the relationship is not destroyed. But how to do that?

Since Christ knew not sin and sin turned us away from Him, quite obviously to get close to Him, we should not sin. Though it's near impossible not to sin, but we should ensure we sin less. And of course, ask His forgiveness when we do.

And as John 14:15 says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command." In other words, since we as Christians say we love Christ, we must show our love for Him by doing as He has commanded us. That includes the 10 commandments and all His teachings. A few good examples are like loving your neighbour and loving your enemies.

And yet, this is not happening. God said love Him with everything that we have. Making Him the center of our lives. Sacrificing it all just to follow His commands. It's not like we don't know His commands. Even if we have not heard Him, we know what He commands through the Bible. But not all Christians live this faith out. I know Christians who hate their enemies. Christians who put their needs before others. Christians who are jealous, angry, lust, etc.

Well, that's not to say those who love God will never do all that. Just that they try their best not to and if it ever happens, they will straight go to God for forgiveness. But what really grinds me is how come Christians are willing to spend more time with God. Granted, there are many ways to serve Him and only Him alone knows how much we are willing to sacrifice for Him but still, there should be some outward showing.

Anyways, in the end this is something between each person and God. I'm not here to judge, just my observations. A good indicator is asking yourself, how much time a day do you give to God? Not just quiet time but as in letting God work through you. Do you put your work in His hands and trust that He alone will deliver you? Do you spend time with Him? Do you worship Him at every opportunity you get? Does everytime you speak, Your love for Him shows through? At the end of the day, if someone points a gun at you and say, "Renounce your faith in Jesus or I'll blow your brains out." will we comply or will we stand our ground?

For me, the choice is simple. There is no other answers other than He is my saviour and I will never forsake Him. He has given His life for me. The least I can do is stand up for Him.