Week 1 - Day 3
THE RELATIONSHIP
Called to Jesus
CALLED TO LOVE JESUS
We have looked at what it means to follow and trust Jesus. Today we’ll look at what it means to love Jesus.
Luke 7:36-47 (NIV)
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
If you knew just how much you were forgiven, what would it do to the level of your love for Jesus?
How, then, can you deepen your love for Jesus?
Matthew 10:37 (NIV)
Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
How would you describe your love for your father or mother?
What’s the nature of a parent’s love for their children?
What does our love for our parents and kids say about how we are to love Jesus?
Why would Jesus demand that we love Him more than we love our parents or our kids?
How could Jesus make such a demand of us?
HE STARTED IT!
1 John 4:9-10 (Author’s Translation)
This is how God showed us His love: He sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the wrath-removing-sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:19 (NIV)
We love because he first loved us.
Where does our love for Jesus begin?
How can Jesus’ love for us inspire us to love Him in return?
Write a love letter to Jesus. Finish this sentence: Jesus I love you because …
In light of what you have discovered through the Bible readings and your personal reflections, how will you respond? Finish this sentence: I will …