Love God because of Jesus. Would you?

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Waking up this morning, the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me with the understanding that there are many people who are worshiping God. There are also many people who are seeking after Him.

Out of all those folks, there are some who are worshiping Him:
A) following a manual, or
B) due to their fear of Hell, or
C) believing that will grant them protection, or
D) believing that will cause God to do anything they wish, or
E) believing that God will forgive them of their sins only after doing so, or
F) believing that to be a way to establish their status with God, or
G) as moved by the Holy Spirit after having known and rejoicing in the truth, Jesus.

Every human being is born with a longing for God. Every human being has a longing to live. This longing is called eternity. Got sets it in the heart of our spirit.

Apart of Christ, people can only worship God for reasons A through F, and maybe some undisclosed others as well, but never for reason G.

As Jesus once said:

“Woman…believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21-24)

Jesus came to set the record straight. God knows that He’s being worshiped.

“ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ” (Matthew 15:8-9)

But the worship that interests God is the worship that He leads. Therefore, what we’re left with is to worship God, not according to our understanding, but according to His understanding. The Spirit of God reveals God’s understanding, God’s stand, God’s supportive structure. It may sound like a cliché, but God’s supportive structure is His Love.

“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)

To all of God’s worshippers, He is saying, “worship Me because you love Me, not because you fear Me.”

God is saying, “Love me.”

Likewise, there are many followers of Jesus, but some follow Him with the wrong motive in mind. Some follow Jesus not because they love Him, but maybe because of certain things they like about him. Things like miracles, wine, bread, physical healing, etc…

The problem with this type of following is that as soon as you don’t like or understand one thing that person does or says you stop following him.

“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” (John 6:26)

Jesus doesn’t try making others become his fans. Whatever he does, it is to reveal God’s presence and love.

Our lot is to worship and praise God his love for us demonstrated on the cross by Jesus and personally manifested in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Today you could have been a worshiper because of reasons A through F, but once the simple gospel is given to you and Jesus opens up your heart to hear it and rejoice in it, your lot is then to worship God as guided by His Spirit after hearing the sweet message of salvation.

“Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” (Acts 16:14)

God knows His worshipers. He knows those who long for Him. And He want them to seek Him and find Him and be content with Him because they love Him with the same love He loves them.

God wants us to love Him because He first loved us. Any other reason will not do.

If we truly love, it should be with the love of God.

If we truly worship Him, it should be because His Spirit led us and taught us to do so.

If we truly live, it should be because Jesus lives in our heart and rejoices with the love of God every single moment that comes and goes.

Love God because of Jesus. Would you?

I beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.