The Simplicity of Loving Jesus
by: Richman Priestley
May 28, 2025
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
When did Christianity become so complicated? When did we add all the ‘stuff’ to it? When did we grow bored with Jesus, and in turn create Christian ‘hype’ and ‘trends’ around things that have nothing to do with Him? When did we add an agenda to drawing near to God? When did we start coming to God, saying what can You offer me, rather than what can I offer You?
Somewhere along the way, we began to draw near to God so that He would meet our needs. We started to draw near to God so that we could get clarity on our situations; drawing near to God so that we could impact others, and the list goes on.
When did it quit being enough for us to draw near to God, just for the sake of drawing near? When did Jesus lose His sparkle, His shine, His aroma? When did we begin to idolize the lifestyle He can create for us rather than the intimacy He can share with us?
When did we become more focused on people than the person of Jesus? Am I misinformed? Did people die on the cross for us? When was it that we began to use God Himself as the ladder that we climb, titled “Christian influence”? When did we become too ‘mature’ to be desperate for God? Tell me, when did these things happen? Or could it be, in some cases, that we never really drew near to Him in the first place.
You see, the scriptures say that we are to 'Taste and see that the Lord is good' (See Psalm 34:8). In God, the more you taste, the hungrier you get. Sadly, however, in much of Christianity today, we settle for a version of God that meets our outward needs without allowing Him to fulfill our internal desires. We promote all of His promises, yet none of His conditions. We want all of His grace, yet none of His jealousy. I believe this type of Christianity grieves our precious Lord.
So I must go on asking, where are the people who seek Him without influence? Where are the people who don’t care if others think they are gifted or are deep with God, because God knowing is enough for them? Where are the people who have pushed past the mere retaining of Christian information and have sunk into the deep waters of knowing Him; who aren’t desiring to use God to get them to where they want to be; the people who simply want to love Him, just for the sake of loving Him?
Where are these people? And would you be willing to give your life to be one of them?
Worship: Adoration
Prayer
Lord, thank You for loving me with a perfect love. Help me to love You back. Help me see any distractions in my life. Take my eyes off the peripheral, and give me eyes for the eternal. Lord, today I ask You to remove anything from my life that hinders love. If it is not from You, I don't want it. Help me to live a simple life. Holy Spirit, give me eyes for only Jesus.
Further Study
2 Corinthians 11:3
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All throughout the Bible we are told stories of personal surrender to the Lord’s will. For some, surrender came easily and others had resistance out of fear, stubbornness, unconvinced they were hearing correctly, unworthiness, not the right time, sin and the list goes on. The Word of God shows how most of those called to some sort of surrender eventually ended up surrendering to what the Lord was asking them to do, but it was a process.