When will I love back? 

Call To Prayer 

Title: When will I love back? 

By: Njuacha Hubert 

Date: 02.12.2023 

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. John 14: 23-24 

God created me, He didn’t only end at that, He loves me to the point that He demonstrated that love by sending His precious only begotten son to suffer and die on the cross for my sins as a complete down payment for my access to eternal life of happiness with Him (John 3: 16). Everything is created by God. Every pleasure, food, music, sex, sport, comedy etc. is the very work of His hands. After all He has done and is doing, when will I love God back?  

After all God has done and is doing and will do, He deserves our gratitude and our love. Sometimes we forget this. We think like the servant with one talent in Mathew 25:24; that God is asking more than He has given us. What more can God do to demonstrate His love for us? Christ’s sacrifice did not begin with the death on the cross, rather it ended with his death, no wonder one of his last words were “it is finished” (John 19:30). It started with “…Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8, Revelations 5:1-10). Jesus accepted to come. The life he lived was a sacrifice. The 40 days fast in the wilderness was for us. Not getting married was for us. Being poor was for us to be rich (2 Corinthians 8:8-9). And so on. 

Now God is asking “after all the love I have shown you, when will you love me back?”. We have every right to say “Jesus loves me” but now what about you, do you love Him? And perhaps you may say “YES I love God, I love Jesus”. It is very easy to say to someone “I love you”. But how useless it is if it is not accompanied with actions. In fact how irritating it can be when someone professes love to you only with the month but cannot make any sacrifice for you. God loves everyone but not the same way (John 3:16). If you love Him, He loves you even more (John 14:23, James 4:8, Psalm 91:14). We love God when we obey His commands. Sacrifice time, money, pleasure etc for Him too. Interestingly, it is people that benefit from your love for God. If people don’t feel God’s love through me, then I can’t claim to know God (1 John 4:20, 1 Corinthians 13:1). Please, love sounds nice but let’s be reminded that in practice, it is not always an immediate nice feeling. In other words, love that is only at your convenience is fake.

Prayer Point:  

Let’s thank God for the word. Let’s pray to accept the challenge to love God back because He deserves our love.