What it means to love Christ

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"If God were your Father, you would love me..." - John 8:42

This is what Christ says to His accusers right before He declares their father to be the devil (John 8:44). Could it be true in our own lives too? Do we think that we are so far from the murder within the hearts of the Pharisees? Are we like those who crucify Him again by their actions (Hebrews 6:6)?

We know that it cannot be simply intention, that God does honor intention (Jeremiah 29:13) but that those who "hope in Him keep themselves pure, even as He is pure (1 John 3:3)." We are existing in between the desire to what is right and actually doing it.

So what is love for Christ? It is keeping His commandments (John 14:15). What does it mean to keep His commandments? It means to be patient and kind, to reject envy and to humble oneself (1 Cor. 13:4), to be self-controlled in our behavior and selfless, to provoke none to sin nor to play with tempting thoughts (v. 5); it means to exalt righteousness and shame evil (v. 6); it means to bear all for the sake of Christ, holding fast to every word He has spoken and enduring till the end (v. 7).

Beloved, let us so begin the process of fostering such a love for Christ within ourselves, knowing that our intentions and attempts are met with the grace of God, who will fill in where we are lacking.

"Let us labor a little and rest forever. Do not seize gold, but seize that wealth which shows gold to be but mud." - St. John Chrysostom (Homily 54 on John 8)