Have you ever been in-love? Silly question, but if your answer is "no", you better stop doing what you're doing online, stop adding friends on Multiply and Friendster and start having real friends -- in person :D
Seriously now, being in-love is a real nice feeling. If you can still remember the first time you fell in-love, the indications are almost always identical among all of us. You feel happy when you see the girl/guy, you always want to see him/her, you always want to talk with him/her (
telebabad during my time; today, what's the term,
text-babad?) You want to give gifts. You want to spend time together as long as possible. You value his/her opinion, always asking him/her about your plans even how petty it is.
People say, they can conquer the world if they are in-love -- against all odds. Well, who are we to judge anyone who is in-love?
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Christianity, I will argue, is much like being in-love. If it doesn't make sense and you don't get the connection, hang on.
You see, we thought that being close to God is about obeying a set of rules. If you obey the rules, you are fine with God. If you don't, then expect to see your frat brod in hell. Whatever your religious heritage is, I noticed that we all have something in common. We were given rules to follow. "Pray the rosary", "Go to church", "Follow the 10 Commandments"... the list goes on. I'm not saying these things are not good, I'm saying, if you think that Christianity is about following rules like these, you're missing the point.
Christianity is about falling in-love with Jesus.
"Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ " (Matt. 22:36, 37a NLT)
Let me tell you who this God is. He is the owner and creator of the universe. He created you, and he did it in his image. But we rebelled against him. We offended him. We sinned against him. For that, the Bible says, we deserve hell. But this God has a plan. He sent his Son Jesus to live among us. He experienced the same pain and rejection that we all are experiencing right now. He was crucified to die for the sins that we should be the one paying for. Then he rose again, went up to heaven and intercedes for us. Whenever we feel alone, he is saying, I'm alive, I'm with you. When you cry for the hurts in this life, he cries with you as he cried when his friend Lazarus died. He loves you with an unfailing love that he'd rather die than live without you.
How can you not love a God like that?
The big question is,
are you in-love with Jesus? Or at least, are you falling in-love with him?If you do, congratulations. On the other hand, as I observe, because of the brand of Christianity that we have, where other people such as Mama Mary, St. Peter, St. Lorenzo Ruiz, or Ellen White (if you know who I'm talking about) is given more recognition than Jesus, it's not unusual to realize that you don't even know who Jesus is other than his image on churches. Friends, please understand my purpose, I'm not having some religion bashing party here. I'm just trying to state the obvious to make a point.
Are you in-love with Jesus? Are you falling in-love with him on a daily basis? Do you crave for a special time with him? Do you want to know his will in your life? Do you talk with him on a personal level? The answer to these questions determine whether you're on the right track in your relationship with God or not. This week, I'm going to suggest practical steps that will make your "love relationship" with Jesus to flourish.
