If I love Jesus . . .

Love on a human level changes lives. When two people love each other, their focus and priorities change. So does their behavior and the way they talk. They think about each other. Life is never the same.

That being true, what can be said about love on a divine level? When Peter was asked if he loved Jesus, his life changed forever too . . .

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. (John 21:17)

The difference in this love is that God’s love didn’t suddenly or even gradually happen. He is love. It is His nature to love. He created humanity because of love. That means God does not ‘fall in love’ like people do. His love is not like ours. It is not based on attraction or fondness. It is not about anything we are or do. He is love: the source and love at its ultimate depth and purity. There is nothing we can do to stop it or change it.

When Jesus Christ came as the expression of God’s love, sinful humanity rejected Him. However, because of God’s grace, “. . . to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12) And in receiving Him, it becomes possible to love like He loves. To say it another way, sinners are made new creatures so that His love can be shed abroad in our hearts. This is what Jesus asked Peter to do. In essence, He said, “If you love me, then love my sheep.”

Yet this was not just for Peter. Later, Jesus told the rest of His disciples: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) As some would say, God sent Jesus to reveal His love – so Jesus sends us to do the same thing!

This is the point of realizing that I do love Jesus; that I know how to express my love for Him. This love is not about mountain top declarations or sentimental cards and letters. It is not about writing a blog or giving a testimony. It is about feeding sheep.

I once owned some sheep. They are timid and skittish animals. They also smell bad and some of them are driven by their insecurities to be bullies who attack when your back is turned. I’m not saying the sheep of Jesus are exactly like that, but some of us do have hang-ups. We often run off at the slightest provocation and can be skittish and insecure.

Yet the love of God is not about the sheep. It is about the One who loves. As Chambers says, “It is impossible to weary God’s love, and it is impossible to weary that love in me if it springs from the one center.”

God’s love isn’t about the qualities of its object, nor is it about my natural affinities. Some sheep are easy to get along with and those could be the sheep I might want to feed, but the love of God does not allow me to be guided by my natural temperament or preferences. I do not get to choose who or what or even when. Jesus says, “Feed my sheep” without any qualifiers.

There are no days off, double-time for over-time, bonuses or retirement plans. There also is no faking it. If I counterfeit the love of God by feeding sheep based on my human sympathy and preferences, then I am mocking and even blaspheming the love of God which is not at all like that!

More than one way to show love

Spiritual gifts have a great deal to do with how a Christian will show love. From the list of seven such gifts in Romans 12, I see seven ways that I could be motivated to let people know that God cares about them and that I care also.

The gifts in this passage are prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting, giving, administration, and showing mercy. After years of studying them, my conclusion is that all Christians have all seven, but each believer is motivated by the same one or two gifts most of the time. These are our dominant spiritual gifts.

I’ve also noticed that the people with a dominant prophetic gift (sometimes called perceivers) are mostly concerned with another person’s spiritual health. The servers want to meet practical needs. The teachers want people to think right, and so on. That means, when a server wants to show love, they will bring a need person a meal, fix their lawn mower, drive them to an appointment, etc. A giver will want to pay their bills and an administrator will offer to help with time management or organizational issues. A teacher is most apt to bring them a book.

Sometimes this is a struggle for me. By taking gift tests and watching how God uses me, my top gifts are tied between teacher and perceiver. I’m the person who wants spiritual wholeness and right thinking, and tend to do a lot of research to find out both. If someone is sick, or suffering a loss, I’m awkward and struggle with showing compassion. I can more easily wash their dishes or plant their garden, but when it comes to emotional encouragement, I tend to assume that if they are right with God and are thinking biblically, they will feel better. This isn’t necessarily the best way to show love to someone with a broken leg.

I usually don’t try to guess the motivating gifts of others, but I do encourage other Christians to take the tests for themselves. However, knowing about gifts and how they work tends to give me a better understanding of how other people think. It also validates my own thinking, especially when I feel like a fish out of water. These gifts make me aware that all Christians are needed, and in life’s situations, some are more equipped than others, depending on the nature of those situations. None of us can do it all.

Paul’s letter to the Romans begins with a statement about his desire to visit them. He says, “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established — that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me” (Romans 1:11-12).

In this passage, “impart” is better translated “share” because it is the Holy Spirit who gives the gifts, not Paul. He simply wanted to share with them from his giftedness so that they might benefit, and out of that, they would share with him. In that mutual sharing, he would also be blessed.

I understand this longing. When God uses my gifts, people are built up in their faith. When people are built up, I am too. It like watching someone unwrap a gift; the delight is a blessing to both the recipient and the giver.

Not only that, using my spiritual gifts is an act of love. It is the love of God and from Him, and it always costs me something (agape love is like that). The key is that no gift can be imitated or faked. I cannot serve on the outside and grumble on the inside. I cannot show compassion when I really want to rebuke someone for whining. Showing the love of God means relying on the Holy Spirit for it.

While I struggle in situations where I feel helpless (I need to know that I cannot do everything), I’m also learning that if a book isn’t the right way to show love, just being there or giving a hug often conveys the right message.