An Article of Faith

Imagine a wife welcoming her husband home one day with these words: “Honey, I’m glad you’re home. By the way, I just wanted you to know that I plan to cook and clean our home. I’ll make sure it’s a great environment. I’ll help raise our children and get them off to school each day. I know those things are my duty and I’m going to fulfill them. But there’s one thing that I need you to know – I just don’t love you anymore.”
Devastating! The relationship between a bride and groom is built on love. Passionate affection is the fuel for every great marriage and without it the home disintegrates.
Our earthly marriages are intended to reflect the greater union of Christ and His bride, the church: “As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.” (Ephesians 5:31-32 NLT.)
Imagine a born-again believer, saved by God’s grace through faith, saying to the Groom, the Lord Jesus, “I want You to know that I’ll come to church most Sundays. I’ll occasionally read my Bible because I know I should. I’ll give a little bit, support mission work, and maybe even teach children in Bible study. I’m committed to doing most of the church stuff. But, I just want You to know – I don’t really love You anymore.”
Our Groom’s greatest desire is not His bride’s activity, but her undivided affection. Christ doesn’t want a form of godliness, but the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5). Christ longs for YOU. He wants an intimate relationship with you, not a religious ritual. In fact, Christ died for that intimate relationship to become a reality. But without love, a marriage – earthly or heavenly – is doomed.
Love for Christ is empowering. You can only operate so long out of religious “duty” (and not very well). Love fuels you with the passion for intimacy with Christ.
Love for Christ is intriguing. When you’re in love with the Lord Jesus you’re drawn in, captured by “how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.” (Ephesians 3:18 NLT.)
True love is more fulfilling than anything else as Christ becomes our greatest longing and greatest satisfaction. When you’re experiencing the love of Christ there’s no need to look for joy anywhere else: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You.” (Psalm 73:25 NIV.)
Love for Christ is contagious. Religious ritual isn’t only boring, it’s also unappetizing. But when you’re around genuine born-again believers who are deeply in love with Jesus, the presence of the Lord fills the room and calls you to join them: “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” (Colossians 3:16 NLT.) (Taken and adapted from: OneCry: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening. Visit www.onecry.
Revival begins with honest evaluation. No excuses, no blaming of others, just accepting full responsibility for where you really are. What is your answer right now if Jesus were to stand before you and ask, “Do you love Me?”
“If My people,” declares the LORD, “who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV.)

Jessie J. Charpentier Sr. is pastor of Jenkins Memorial Baptist Church in St. Martinville.