“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving you today.” —Deuteronomy 6:5-6 (Good News Translation).
When your heart is polluted with the indwelling sin of selfishness where everything that animates your physical and emotional being including your every thought with your intellectual desire, then you can never be at your point of fulfilling Jesus’ greatest commandment— “Loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all tour strength.” Loving God is repeatedly recorded inMatthew 22:34-40 and Mark 12:28-34 taken from Deuteronomy 6:5 coined with Leviticus 19:18. Loving God and loving others is a clear commandment! Knowing and loving God more intimately will in turn to see others differently and you’ll learn to love them with that love that comes from God alone. If your passions are not realigned in making God first, if you are not deeply attracted by the Lord’s love, then there is a need to rekindle your love for God. God cares just like the way how the group of believers from the church of Ephesus were given the chance to rekindle their love for Him as recorded in Revelations 2:1-7.
Consider the acronym “CARES” as your guide on how you can rekindle your love for God:
- Confess and Repent of Your Failures to Love God. Confession is the act of admission of wrongdoings, but it doesn’t end there. It must be followed with repentance to correct the wrong actions of sins committed. The dictionary says that repentance is a feeling of remorse to correct the wrong things done. That said feeling must then be accompanied by a promise of not doing that sinful act again. Jesus called the attention of believers from the church of the Ephesus to repent. Unrepented sins hinder your love for God and affect your spiritual life. But the good news is when you confess your sins and repent from them, you are assured of God’s forgiveness.
- Ask God to Search Your Heart. The Psalmist asked God to search his heart to see should there is wickedness in his ways. Asking God to search your heart is so important especially when you are already knowledgeable on the truths of God’s Word. The moment you claim that you are a follower of Christ and yet you will still decide to commit sin deliberately, then that means you are not really making Jesus as your Lord because you don’t want to obey Him, and there no longer remains a sacrifice for your sins. This means you really did not receive the saving grace of Christ because you still want to be the Lord of yourself rather than making Jesus as your Lord. You are then judged as an enemy of God and will end up being consumed in a raging fire known as 2nd death in hell. Pray and ask God to reveal the status of your life in Him and the Holy Spirit can reveal the condition of your heart through His Word.
- Radiate your life. When your salvation in Christ is genuine, then you are going to radiate—allowing Jesus’ light in you shining to others. Jesus is the light of the world and since you are a genuine follower of Christ, your light will naturally shine through your good works in your secret acts, and no room for you to boast of anything. Jesus becomes your spiritual light and through you, His truths shall radiate through people where they can bring glory to God through His Son Jesus Christ. Then God can use you to push back the kingdom of darkness.
- Equip yourself in the knowledge of God. Equipping in the knowledge of God is such a huge discipline study that is continues and never stops. Equipping yourself confirms your life as a follower of Christ that can be fulfilled through spiritual disciplines like studying His Word having a daily Biblical reflection, joining discipleship group, developing your prayer habits (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17), and many others. In common Bible translations, 2 Peter 3:18 says: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Being equipped makes you stand against false teachings that are not in accordance with God’s Word. You may not have the opportunity to pursue formal biblical studies, but when you seriously subscribe to spiritual disciplines, the power of the Holy Spirit can equip you to know all truths.
- Share God’s Love to Others. God’s love you received shall not remain in you but shall be shared with others. Since you are already equipped in this stage, now you are ready to make disciples. You were once a disciple, now, you are a “discipler” fulfilling the great commission Jesus declared His authority commanding us to make disciples. Without submitting to the authority of Jesus in heaven and earth, without obeying Jesus’ authority in his commandment to love God and among other commandments, no way for you to share God’s love with others and to be effective in making disciples. Many followers of Christ are guilty of not fulfilling the great commission for whatever challenges as reasons. For example, others may claim that their discipler is a celebrity pastor, a disciple guru, or a bishop, or may claim that they are a follower of this and that. But the Apostle Paul frowned on this kind of notion. Make Jesus to be your discipler and not anyone else. Jesus has chosen you out of this world and with the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be a discipler, then you are effectively sharing God’s love with others—sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
His constant love is always available since He CARES for you. All you need to do is to humble yourself before Him, allowing His love to flow through you, and then you can continuously REKINDLE YOUR LOVE FOR GOD.