How Deep is Your Love?
Scripture Reading For Today: Luke 7:36-48
Meditating on today’s scripture reading and following on from the last two days’ blog, I began to ask myself the question that is the topic of today’s
devotional: How deep is my love for Christ?
devotional: How deep is my love for Christ?
Now, this is a question that some might find themselves quick to answer without giving any depth of thought to. After all, the concept of “love” is a familiar
calling card for us professing Christians. Not so?
calling card for us professing Christians. Not so?
However, if we were to step away from the clichéd concept of love and look at it from God’s definition of it, our answer to the question may not be as
comfortable as we might first imagine.
comfortable as we might first imagine.
We will be looking more at this from a few perspectives in this week’s theme.
First, let’s hear what Jesus has to say about “depth of love” in the scripture we just read:
“She who has been forgiven much loves much”
Q. What did Jesus see in the woman in the story that showed him how much she loved Him?
The woman had a bad history. People judged her because of this past and they expected Jesus to have the same attitude towards her, but Jesus didn’t (Verses
37-39)
37-39)
When she approached Jesus, it was with an attitude of gratitude for the mercy and forgiveness she had received from Him. Her response to this was the love
that overflowed to Jesus in her actions. (Verses 44-47).
that overflowed to Jesus in her actions. (Verses 44-47).
Jesus made a profound statement about her to Simon Peter:
“47Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little loves little.”
The question then is:
Could it be that we have not loved Him as deeply as we should or as much as we could because we have not realised or perhaps because we have forgotten how much we have been forgiven?
The woman was a sinner, the whole town knew she was a sinner, Jesus knew she was a sinner; even she herself admitted that she was a sinner. But she knew
something else apart from that: She knew the mercy and the grace of forgiveness that flowed from the love that Jesus had for her. Her response to this
love was her own demonstrative love for Jesus that she showed in her actions.
something else apart from that: She knew the mercy and the grace of forgiveness that flowed from the love that Jesus had for her. Her response to this
love was her own demonstrative love for Jesus that she showed in her actions.
She gave the best of what she had and then she gave the best of who she was in Worship of the One that had given so much to her.
She didn’t care much about the people around her; she cared nothing about what they thought about her past. All that mattered to her was this one moment
before her Saviour; she laid her past at His feet as she worshipped Him and wrestled her future from the bowels of grace and mercy that made a way
for her to have a future and a hope.
before her Saviour; she laid her past at His feet as she worshipped Him and wrestled her future from the bowels of grace and mercy that made a way
for her to have a future and a hope.
The expression of her love was directly proportional to her understanding of the pardon she had received; her past forgiven, her future restored.
Unbridled love mixed with her offering, as the sweet fragrance of the perfume from her alabaster box flowed from the depths of a grateful heart that knew
how much she had been given; a heart that understood and appreciated how much she had been forgiven.
how much she had been given; a heart that understood and appreciated how much she had been forgiven.
Hear this, child of God –
**We can love Him, only because He first loved us. To understand how much He loves you, is to first understand how much He has forgiven you.**
As as the bible says in Romans 5:6-8:
“6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7(For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) 8But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Do you realise How Deep the Father’s love for you is? Do you realise How Deep Jesus’s love for you really is?
What do you say then?
How deep is your love for Him?
God bless you,
Pastor Wale Ola
LIFE APPLICATION
1. What is God saying to me in today’s message?
2. What was ministered to me in the bible verses that I read today?
3. What are the changes or adjustments I need to make in my life to align with the word of God?
4. What is my commitment to the word for today?
5. What practical steps can I take to benefit from the word I have read today?
PRAYER FOCUS
Spend the day thanking God for His grace, His goodness, His mercy that took Jesus to the cross and brokered your forgiveness.
Meditate on how much you have been forgiven by Him.
Ask Him for the grace to respond with a deeper love for Him than you have ever done before.
Song for Today: How He Loves Us – Kim Walker