Why I Love Jesus- by Matthew Owen Williams

The question at hand is, “Why do I Love Jesus?” I love Jesus because He first loved me. Of course that’s the simple answer. 1 John 4:19 provides us with that answer and it is sufficient.

And there is more, a lot more to the answer. This blog will deal with the first three reasons I love Jesus. 1) He loved me first. 2) Eternity and 3) the accountability of love.

In fact every single person who has answered that question can add more. Future blogs may reveal the other reasons that I love Jesus.

In answering the question “why do you love Jesus.” We are not adding to the Scripture, we are sharing our personal experiences with Christ Jesus. A relationship with Jesus is personal. So, every single person who loves Jesus will be able to answer with a personal response.

I want to respond on the personal level. I want to do it for a couple of reasons. 1) Right before I was hit by lightning -the first time, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to do so. Y’all who are Christians know that “still small voice.” 2) Over and over, for the last several years I have thought about that first moment. It just pops into my mind.

So before I get deep into this let me make this acknowledgment. I get the hypocrisy of me answering that question. I am a sinner. I do not have it all together. I don’t always do everything right. I struggle. I am weak. I am mostly living in the passive voice.

The passiveness and weakness is just fine. I am passive, Christ is active. I am weak, Christ is strong.

I would like to think of myself as a strong man who acts strong but that would be inaccurate (for the most part). One could possibility reason., “Matt, you do many things and that is a sign of strength.” I would like to counter that line of reasoning by pointing out that my doing is not necessarily a point of strength but more a point of obedience. Busyness is not a sign of godliness nor is it a sign of strength.

I am busy because I know just how precious time is. So many people begin to think that life is about so many things. After reading the Bible I began to realize that life is really about one thing. That one thing is “opportunity.” Another clichéd way of putting it, is that life is about the “DASH” between the dates. That little “DASH” is your opportunity.

As a matter of fact we all die. This is one of those facts that nobody argues. We know it. Let’s not discuss or dwell on it. Let us move on to a more pleasant topic.

But.

We must face that fact from time to time. The deaths of friends, family, and strangers reminds us of this fact. And then there is the “lead-up” (we call this aging).

So why not discuss death? Why do we avoid the topic or at least desire to avoid it? I have a theory.

I theorize that most people do not want to discuss death because they do not look forward to eternal life. More than likely most people never think or ponder about their eternal life. I do.

As I sit here typing I realize that it might be good to take you on a guided tour of my “eternal life” contemplation. One moment I will be stuck here in this flesh and the next moment I won’t be. How will it happen? When will it happen? Will it be painful? Will it be long? Will it be quick? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I will be in this flesh one moment and out of it the next. What happens next? Again, no clue. At some point though I do know a few things. I will see other Brothers and Sisters in Christ. I will be with other Believers. I will be with other Christians.

What will we be doing? I don’t know all the details. I know that there will be a judgement and that I will realize how many moments in the DASH that I have squandered, wasted. I know that I will weep and that Christ will wipe the tears from my eyes. My pain will be over. Time will be through. Revelation 21:4 points all this out. And what about the contemplation?

Of course I contemplate more. I want to play music in heaven. I want to really worship. I want to sit and talk. There is so much to talk about. I want to build. Christ is “preparing a place” for Christians, and I suppose that means He is building. Maybe I will get to build in heaven.

Imagine building a building and having choice materials to use. What I could do with an endless supply of stone and silver and gold. What if I could design and cut diamonds for windows. Maybe I could build a place with windows made of diamonds and rubies and emeralds. Not just small stones diamonds, rubies and emerald ten feet tall and three feet wide. Will we have more colors with which to work? I will no longer be colorblind and maybe we will all be able to see different colors. It’s a meditation of immense proportion.

The scripture talks a great deal about meditation. Start with Psalm 1. And keep this in mind: one definition of “muse” means thoughtfulness. Place an “a” in front of “muse” and you get the word amuse. One of the definitions of amuse is “delude or deceive” (Google Search). Meditation and muse have equal meaning. What then is an amusement park all about? Many people say that meditation is about clearing the mind. The Scripture indicates that meditation is about thinking. Psalms 1 -it will take you about 5 minutes to read the whole chapter, it is worth it.

Thus, I conclude that it is a good thing to sit and think about eternity. I believe eternal life is real. What will it be like? What about those who don’t believe in eternal life? What about them? As a Christian I would encourage you to examine and meditate on the Great commission. (Matthew 28:16-20)

So why do so many want to avoid the thoughts and discussions about death? I  would like to suggest that without Christ it doesn’t make sense to think about death. Can there be an eternal life without Christ Jesus?

My answer to that is no. Therefore I was compelled at an early age to embrace Christ Jesus, to believe in Christ Jesus and to love Christ Jesus. It made sense. But…

But I knew that there were great gaps in doctrine. There were holes in the humanity of the people that I knew. There was sin. There were many missing the mark. I saw shortcomings. I saw people fail. I saw people fight. I saw problems. Yet…

I had examined the death thing in depth. I believed that my Grandpa had simply gone on ahead. As I gained age I believed it more and more. I began to believe that we all live forever. I still do.

So the concept of eternal life moved me to believe in Christ Jesus. What else? I think the idea of “unconditional positive regard” helped BUT as I began to understand Love… well let’s begin with…

What is “unconditional positive regard?” A google search will tell you that is accepting people and supporting people regardless of what they do or say. And although this sounds nice it really is not something that can be applies to every moment of life. At best it is a conditional theory.

Sin, violence, evil, meanness and hatred cannot stand within the concept of unconditional positive regard. There is a place for “unconditional positive regard,” especially when it leads to love. Love is not the culmination of unconditional positive regard. Love is always greater than unconditional positive regard because love always encompasses accountability.

To merely regard an individual is not nice. Mere regard is simply an apathetic nod. Love destroys apathy. Love takes action and demands accountability. Is it a “right now” accountability? No it is not.

Quick example of this can be found in the phrase, “I was raised better.” The loving parent does not immediately force accountability on a three month child but if that kid is still screaming out in public at age eight without a medical condition then some accountability will be brought into play.

I love Jesus because He holds me accountable and He creates the space and time for me to navigate that accountability. It takes time. I experience this accountability through other believers and the Holy Spirit. It is a process.

Process is up and down. Process is winning and losing. Process is always moving forward, even when it feels like we are moving backwards. The process of accountability is intricately personal. Jesus offers an intricately personal process of accountability.

For instance, what is sin to one person is not sin to another. What one person is called to another one is not called to. This example could go on and on. The point that accountability is personal is common knowledge.

I love Jesus because of His Love for me, the eternity I am experiencing and the accountability I receive from His love.

As I wrap this up tonight I realize that I am just beginning. Should I continue with the list method? Do you find this helpful? What are your experiences here? Why do you love Jesus?