What Jesus didn’t say

Ok, so that title is a little misleading, but let me explain.

We talk a lot about loving Jesus, mostly because loving Jesus is a good thing. God has never been after mindless or heartless robots blindly doing everything they are told. No, God has always been after the restoration of the relationship that was broken when Adam and Eve took the fruit and at it.

Disobedience broke the relationship. Disobedience didn’t stop God from loving Adam and Eve (or us), but it did make it hard for Adam and Even to feel loved by God. It’s hard to feel loved by someone you’ve let down or disappointed.

But if disobedience broke the relationship, then loving more won’t fix it. The only thing that restores what disobedience broke is obedience. This doesn’t discount the need for love because again, love is a sign of relationship, but as much as parents want their children to love them, love apart from obedience is empty. Jesus understood this when He told His disciples that love is shown in our obedience.

“If you love me, obey my commandments.” (‭‭John‬ ‭14:15‬ ‭NLT, emphasis mine)

We spend so much time trying to get people to love Jesus before they follow Him, and yet when Jesus was calling His disciples, He didn’t say, “Love Me.” But He did say, “Follow Me.”

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4:19‬ ‭NLT, emphasis mine)

I know it messes with all that we’ve been taught, but there’s not a single mention of love in that command. Jesus knew that if we would trust Him enough to follow Him — to obey Him — then our love for Him would grow as we followed.

There are too many Christians who love Jesus but don’t trust Jesus, and that makes it almost impossible to follow Him when we don’t feel His love. But it’s precisely in those moments that we don’t have to. We simply have to trust His hand to lead us another step, and another, and another.

Come, let’s follow Him together.

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