“‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”” Mt. 15:8-9
Have you ever wondered if someone you know and love REALLY loves you? Have you wondered why the person keeps saying I LOVE YOU but you can’t seem to see that love in action no matter how hard you look? Like you keep hearing the words I LOVE YOU and sometimes you catch glimpses of it and sometimes you see some signs of it but overall in the grand scheme of things in the big picture if you looked at a day in your life or in both of your lives for that matter the truth is pretty obvious that the person who professes and promises and keeps saying I LOVE YOU doesn’t really when it comes right down to it seem to sincerely love you the way you want and feel you deserve and should in fact be loved?
Years ago, lying in bed with the man I professed to love whom I ended up marrying whom I should not have been in bed with because we were not yet married not to mention we were not equally yoked according to God’s Word whereby we should not have even been dating in the first place, I said to this man I professed to love, “I love the Lord more than anything and anyone in the world.” I professed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I professed to love the Lord Jesus Christ. But my everyday life, the state of my heart, the nature of my decisions and actions, right down to the fact I was in bed with a man I shouldn’t have been in bed with, all of it made it plain and clear that I did not sincerely love the Lord the way the Lord desires to be loved. Jesus’ followers love Him. They believe in Him. They follow Him. They obey Him. They repent when they fall short. And day by day in their hearts and lives they LIVE FOR HIM. This is how their love shows forth.
Why did the apostle Paul in the scripture above use the words “in sincerity”? Why didn’t he just write that verse to people who said they loved Jesus? To people who simply said they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why did He write of grace (unmerited favor) being given to those who SINCERELY LOVED JESUS? I believe at least in part it’s because we need the warning, the reminder, the emphasis, the whatever you want to call it, that professing to BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and professing to LOVE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST is not about tossing around the words I LOVE JESUS CHRIST or I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST.
Believing in and following and loving the Lord Jesus Christ if we SINCERELY, TRULY, REALLY, GENUINELY believe in, follow, and love Him, for God’s forgiveness and the promise of an everlasting relationship with the Lord, when it is SINCERE, TRUE, REAL, and GENUINE, shows forth every day of our lives in the way we think, what we say, how we feel, what we do, what decisions we make, and how we act and what actions we take. We don’t do any of this perfectly, but the Lord who sees our hearts and actions knows who really believes in Him as Lord and who truly loves and follows Him.
How do you feel when someone keeps saying I LOVE YOU to you but that person doesn’t really show you that love not on a regular and consistent basis with a sincere heart anyway? How do you think the Lord of the universe feels when we walk around professing to believe in and follow and love Him while our hearts and actions are truly far away from Him?
God’s greatest command is to love Him with all our hearts, and true love for the Lord will show forth in how each and every day we live our lives. In humble loving obedient honor and reverence for Him – or not.
Where do you stand in the way of love, friend? For Christ who is Lord forevermore?