DEVOTION TO THE LORD JESUS
Can a person love the Lord Jesus too much? Is there any limit to one’s heart-devotion to This Person? A discerning reader of the New Testament can answer both of these questions quite easily: absolutely not.
The New Testament is filled from start to finish with ardent devotion to Jesus Christ. He is declared to be the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom (Col 2:3), the One who sustains every particle of the universe and every fibre of our being (Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:3). He is set forth as the supreme reason for living (2 Cor 5:9). Gazing into his face one can see perfectly and without the slightest distortion the very glory of God (Heb 1:3). He owns angels (Mt 24:31) and they know well their Master and are not afraid to bow in worship before Him (Heb 1:6). To Him belongs the incredible privilege of bestowing the Spirit of God upon He wishes (Acts 2:33). And His Name is supremely precious, because by no other Name can sinners be saved (Acts 4:12).
Due to all this Jesus is worthy to be worshipped in the identical manner as God the Father (Rev 5). No praise, no depth of adoration is too much to give him. He is worthy of all of our being’s devotion for He is God, the great God come to earth to lay down his life for sinners (Jn 1:1, 14; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13).
Not to love him thus and to be devoted him without reservation is to dishonour God. It is the Father’s great delight that all honour the Son in this way. Little wonder that as Paul wraps up his great letter to the churches in Ephesus, he can declare: “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible” (Eph 6:24, ESV).
Outside of Scripture such extravagant love for Christ is well captured in the nineteenth-century hymn, “Jesus, Wondrous Saviour.” Its author, D.A. MacGrgeor (d.1890), was the Principal of Toronto Baptist College when he wrote it, and it came from a heart aflame with devotion for the Saviour:
“Jesus, wondrous Saviour! Christ of kings the King!
Angels fall before Thee, prostrate, worshipping.
Fairest they confess Thee in the Heaven above,
We would sing Thee fairest here in hymns of love.”
“Jesus all perfections rise and end in Thee;
Brightness of God’s glory Thou, eternally.
Favour’d beyond measure They Thy face who see;
May we, gracious Saviour, share this ecstasy.”
The New Testament is filled from start to finish with ardent devotion to Jesus Christ. He is declared to be the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom (Col 2:3), the One who sustains every particle of the universe and every fibre of our being (Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:3). He is set forth as the supreme reason for living (2 Cor 5:9). Gazing into his face one can see perfectly and without the slightest distortion the very glory of God (Heb 1:3). He owns angels (Mt 24:31) and they know well their Master and are not afraid to bow in worship before Him (Heb 1:6). To Him belongs the incredible privilege of bestowing the Spirit of God upon He wishes (Acts 2:33). And His Name is supremely precious, because by no other Name can sinners be saved (Acts 4:12).
Due to all this Jesus is worthy to be worshipped in the identical manner as God the Father (Rev 5). No praise, no depth of adoration is too much to give him. He is worthy of all of our being’s devotion for He is God, the great God come to earth to lay down his life for sinners (Jn 1:1, 14; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13).
Not to love him thus and to be devoted him without reservation is to dishonour God. It is the Father’s great delight that all honour the Son in this way. Little wonder that as Paul wraps up his great letter to the churches in Ephesus, he can declare: “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible” (Eph 6:24, ESV).
Outside of Scripture such extravagant love for Christ is well captured in the nineteenth-century hymn, “Jesus, Wondrous Saviour.” Its author, D.A. MacGrgeor (d.1890), was the Principal of Toronto Baptist College when he wrote it, and it came from a heart aflame with devotion for the Saviour:
“Jesus, wondrous Saviour! Christ of kings the King!
Angels fall before Thee, prostrate, worshipping.
Fairest they confess Thee in the Heaven above,
We would sing Thee fairest here in hymns of love.”
“Jesus all perfections rise and end in Thee;
Brightness of God’s glory Thou, eternally.
Favour’d beyond measure They Thy face who see;
May we, gracious Saviour, share this ecstasy.”
