Core

Jesus summed up 613 laws with just two. Love God and love others. Most Christians know this very well. I try to proclaim this every Sunday morning in one form or another. I think this is the absolute core of everything we should be about. But do we get it.

I'm in love. I'm in love with my wife. I remember first falling in love with her and the giddy feeling I felt in those early days. Our love grew and matured and changed over the years but it is still great. Giddy gave way to a little less expressive but even deeper inner joy. After nearly 25 years of marriage her voice still brings a smile to my face and a sense of excitement to my whole being. I love being in love with her. I've invested a ton into our relationship and it is very dear to me.

I love Jesus. I fell in love with him when I was 6 years old. I can remember the giddy feeling at the beginning of our relationship. This relationship is different than the one with my wife though. Obviously there is not an eros component to it but even more drastically, I am the only one in this relationship whose love grows and matures and changes over time. But I have invested a lot in it and it is very dear to me.

A few years ago I began being more intentional about thinking about God's love for me. I can't really go into the process of it all but whenever I do it I get a similar feeling. I feel incredibly loved.

But I want to grow deeper in my love for God. I was looking at my book shelves and I've found very little help. A few offer practices that are intended to help of which only a few I think actually work. (More on those in a minute.) But most of the advice are just exercises that can be done by anyone and have very little to do with growing in our love for God. And that's a big problem.

In fact most of our church activity doesn't require a relationship with God at all. Sometimes people are surprised to learn that there are a lot of Bible scholars in the world that do not believe in God. The fact is that learning about God does not require that we be in love with God. We do a lot of kind deeds for people but again, those can be done by anyone. They don't require a relationship with God.

I recently read a suggested mission and vision statement that came out of a conference. All the point that were made in both documents were excellent. But then I asked if a relationship with God was really necessary to accomplish this mission and vision and the answer was no. Granted I don't know why anyone would do those things if they weren't in love with God but I don't think it would be a requirement. Maybe that would be a good screening question. Do we need to be in love with God to accomplish this mission and vision?

I actually think there are a lot of people like that. They believe in God, they are moral people, they do good works, and they even pray with the best of intentions. But I'm not sure they actually have a relationship with God and that is a fatal flaw in their faith.

So how do we develop our love for God? The only suggestions that I thought actually worked were those that helped establish communication with God. Journaling, writing letters, meditating, and conversational prayer seemed to push me toward a loving relationship. I also think that stories about other people's relationship with God are also helpful. This would include biblical characters like Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and most of the Old Testament prophets. (Try reading the prophets to learn about their relationship with God rather than Israel's sin a time or two.) It would also include non-biblical characters like Augustine, Brother Lawrence, Francis of Assisi and a number of more contemporary people.

In the end I always come back to this: How do I answer the question, "What does Jesus mean to me?" If I can only answer that question with doctrinal statements I think I am in trouble. (Salvation, Cross, Risen, Lord, etc.) In fact if that's where my mind first goes I'm probably missing the boat. I think a description of a loving relationship needs to be at the core.