He loves like no other man has ever loved, or will ever love! His sacrifice was something un-heard of. And He pretty much lived a life that was out of the ordinary. The moment He opened His mouth, people were intrigued by His words; but yet He looked like any other regular guy at the time. He walked around wearing just a simple, plain, nothing-fancy at all long robe. The things He did, the way He was approachable to everyone was pretty much amazing.

“Who is He?”, they all secretly asked each other. He knew His purpose on earth so He didn’t reveal Himself first.

When you know whose you are, there is no need to show off. Because whose you are is far more important than anything you will acquire, or any degree you will ever receive. 

At the last supper, “He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, drink it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” Matthew 26:27-28.

So, it is said that at that time, when a guy loved a girl and the time came for him to propose, he would say “this is my covenant with you, take and drink it”. Do you understand what this means? It means that when Jesus said “this is is my blood of the covenant, take and drink it, what they heard was “would marry me”? This is was a marriage proposal!  In the New Testament, clearly we see that the Church is the bride and Jesus is the bridegroom (Mark 2:19-20).

And what does the bridegroom do? He proposes to His bride, right?

Each day, He is asking, would marry me? 

Because after all, doesn’t He ask us daily to “love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind”? Matthew 22:37 The thing they don’t tell you is this: you choose to love the people you love everyday. The moment you don’t consciously choose to love them is the moment you take them for granted.

Would you marry me? Would you love me with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind, today? In whatever hours and minutes I am choosing to give you today? 

Here is the thing too, once you say yes (the most amazing yes you will ever have the privilege and honor to say by the way) make sure you are saying yes for the right reasons.

No one likes to  be used, right? We all want people to love us for who we are, not for what they can get from us. So for us who said yes to Him, and for those considering to say yes, we need to make sure that we are saying yes because we have come to love Jesus as the amazing Savior that He is not because we want His gifts.

“The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God” John Piper.

It’s a love story!

The reason why Jesus came is to have a relationship with you and me. 

I may need a minute to get this truth down in my soul.

A relationship with me? me?

“…God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them..” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus didn’t come to bless your life, He came to be with you, which turns out to be the greatest blessing if you really think about it!

When Jesus comes into our lives, He doesn’t owe us anything! I need to always remind this to my sinful self: Gisele, Jesus doesn’t owe you anything; His coming was more than what I could ever deserve and I should be content with just that!

I read these questions and they haven’t stopped lingering in my mind:

“Am I a Jesus-user? or a Jesus-adorer? How does the church stop being a bunch of Jesus-users? When did Jesus become more about business-like benefits to us instead of the beautiful who calls us beloved?” Ann Voskamp

Do you love Jesus because of the things He blessed you with, the prayers He answered, or do you love Him because in Him you are complete?

These are real questions that need to be answered from the bottom of our hearts in all sincerity. You don’t have to share aloud your answers to these questions but you need to know on which foundation your love for Jesus is based on!

In the New Testament Jesus was not surprised by people who pretended to love Him, for most people all they really cared about was His blessings. We see this in John 6 starting verse 22. First,  Jesus feeds five thousand people because of His generosity; the next day, verse 22, people are out seeking Him and they take boats to go where He is. Considering the word “seek” you would think they wanted Jesus because of who He was. But let’s keep reading.

“When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” John 6:25 In my mind this verse translates, “where are our blessings? Yesterday was good, we had a really good time, why haven’t you blessed us today?”

Doesn’t our prayer words reveal what we really want from Him? Think about it.

Take a minute and think about this: does your prayer life consists of words like, Lord, bless this project I am doing, give me this, give me that or do you spend most of your prayer time desperately asking God to make you more like Jesus? To give you a more fervent desire for Him? Depending on how I answer this, I can easily figure out why I love Him.

There is nothing wrong with asking God to answer our prayers! In fact, He asks us to ask and we shall receive. Matthew 7:7

But there is a problem when I want His blessings more than I want His presence. There is a problem if I want to be blessed with things more than I want to be like Him!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set his seal.”  John 6:27

In order words, pray often for the things you will get to keep eternally, which is God’s presence and your personal holiness, not the things you will leave behind here on earth!

If you said Yes already, or haven’t yet, we need to work on the foundation of being satisfied in Him alone! Nothing more!

Lord, I pray that we be consumed by You. Father, I pray that more times than we dare to count that our prayer may always be: More of You Lord, and please keep making us in the image of Your son, Jesus. Everything else is fleeing Lord. Just to be at Your feet and feel Your heartbeat. We want more of You Lord, we want more of You!! In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN!