Chapter
41

God has used my kids to teach me so much about Him. As I think back about the song that Jackson sang at his funeral, I’m reminded of its simple but very important message. The song is called, “I love you, Lord.”

 

Someone once tried to put Jesus on the spot by asking Him which of the commandments was the greatest. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

 

So, when I think back to Jackson’s song, I want to live this out. However, what does it really mean to say, “I love you, Lord”?

 

Joshua 24:15 New International Version

 

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

 

Following God is a personal decision. We aren’t born into Christianity. In fact, we are actually born into sin. Some of us may think of ourselves as Christian because we were born in a “Christian country” or in a “Christian family.” However, that doesn’t make us a Christian. In the days of the early church, the term given as “Christian” was actually meant as an insult by the person giving the label. It meant that you were a person like that Christ guy, Jesus. I wonder how many people today would be given the label of “Christian” based on how much we resemble Jesus?

 

So, when I say, “I love you, Lord,” the “I” is of extreme importance. It doesn’t matter how much my grandmother loved Jesus. It’s personal. I am making the commitment. Nobody else is making it for me. As I face my grief, I must decide what I will do in the midst of it. I can choose to be angry at God. I can choose to push away from God. I can choose to sin and disobey God. There are so many other choices that I could choose to make. I choose to love the Lord. This doesn’t mean that I always succeed. I fail miserably some days, but now I choose to love the Lord. When I fail, He forgives me because he loves me back. Actually, He loved me first. He loved me before I loved Him. And I don’t yet love exactly like He loves. He loves perfectly. While I may fail and let him down, He never fails and never lets me down.

 

1 John 4 New International Version

 

 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 

 

 

So, what does it mean to “love” the Lord? Love is a word who’s meaning is lost in today’s world. How is it that we can open an ugly sweater given to us by a loving family member and say, “Oh. I love it.” Then later that same day, we turn to our spouse and say, “I love you.” Is the same meaning meant when using the same word?

 

When we say to our co-worker, “I love you” and to our mother, “I love you,” do we mean the same thing? I know I don’t.

 

When I say, “I love you, Lord,” what the word “love” means is not a feeling. It is an action. This kind of love means a promise or a pledge to commit to God in an action. It’s an action verb, not a noun or an adjective. Understanding this, I can love God even when I’m sad. I can love God when I’m depressed. I can love God when I’m confused. I can even love God when I’m angry. I don’t have to understand what He’s doing. I don’t have to understand what He’s allowing. I don’t have to agree with Him. Jesus loved His Father. Just before going to the cross, Matthew 26:39 states that Jesus “fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

 

Jesus displayed perfect Love to His Father by following His Father's will when it might not have been Jesus’. I want to love God with the same intensity that Jesus loved His Father. I don’t want to live like I have a crush on Jesus. I want to truly commit to love the Lord with all my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. I want to do this even in the heartache of my grief.

 

A while back, I heard someone say that they had asked Jesus to be their Savior when they were very young, but it wasn’t until they were in their mid-thirties that they asked Him to be their Lord. For this Christian way of life to work, we must ask Jesus to be both our Savior and our Lord. Many people miss this. As a Savior, we can simply try to use God as a “get out of Hell free card.” Calling Jesus to be our Lord, is a completely different, and crucial step.

 

“Lord” isn’t a word that we use much outside of church today. Dictionary.com defines a lord as: “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.” Having anyone be your “Lord” is a concept that seems contrary to human nature. This is even more so contrary to the American way of life. So much of what we count on as Americans is to “live free or die.” In fact, this is the New Hampshire state motto. It is even proudly printed on the New Hampshire auto license plates.

 

I guess what I had to ask myself was this: “How’s that working out for you?”

 

Honestly speaking, my answer was, “Not well.”

 

Since the time of Adam and Eve, humanity has been given the choice by God to make our own choices or to follow God’s way. When we deviate from God’s way, we miss the mark. We sin. We separate ourselves from God. We stand on our own, and we suffer the consequences of our decisions. It’s no way to live, but it is a sure way to die. From the beginning God warned us of that.

 

Now I have a choice. It’s the same choice that we all have. I can choose God’s way and live, or I can choose my way and die. Having said that, it’s not like I’m choosing God’s way, and His way is miserable. It’s the opposite of miserable. When we accept God’s way, we do so by following Him in faith. We become a new creation. He gifts us with a new spirit. He gives us love. He gives us joy. He gives us peace. He gives us patience. He gives us gentleness. He gives us self-control. What a wonderful way to live.

 

Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

 

With this understanding, I do commit that, “I love you, Lord.”

 

I will make the personal decision. I will love God through my actions, and I won’t be guided by my feelings. I ask Jesus to be the Lord over my life. I submit to His ways, and not to mine for I know His ways are so much greater than mine.

 

Difficult days may be coming. I know they have come in the past. But I also know that those days will pass. God has amazing things in store for me in my future. A world is coming where there will be no more death, no more pain, no more crying, for the former things have passed away. I will not grieve as the world grieves. I will grieve with Hope. This is how God changes mourning into dancing.

 

As each new day comes, the dance begins again. The music plays, and my eyes are set on Jesus.

 

And I say:

 

“I love you, Lord."

 

Link to Jackson’s singing, “I Love You, Lord:”       https://youtu.be/-UbYpUxyajo