Living The Life By Pete BriscoeSample

Turning Your Affections Toward God

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. — Mother Teresa

Major Ian Thomas wrote about something he called “The Threefold Interlock.” Sure, it sounds like a wrestling move, but what he was describing is how we live a life of faith: 

1. We love God.
2. That love for God leads to dependency on God.
3. Dependency on God results in obedience to God. 

That’s good stuff, but it’s not the whole story. Love doesn’t start with us. Our love for God could never originate from our own hearts. And unlike a lot of love we experience on earth, God doesn’t love us because we love Him first… that’s actually backwards. We love God for a very specific reason:

We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Our love for Christ comes in response to His amazing love for us. I don’t think we can actually wrap our minds around how much He loves us. He died on the cross for us. He knows about all of our wicked sin, and yet He still loves us and accepts us. When you truly recognize that kind of love for what it is, and the Spirit shows it to you, you will find yourself enraptured with love for Him—it’s not something that you have to manufacture on your own. Just give it some thought. Pray it through. Ask God to make you willing to see, feel, taste, hear His love with all your senses. Close your eyes; vividly imagine you are in the crowd that day the Son of God bled and died.

Lord Jesus, Your love for me is deep and powerful, and I really can’t comprehend it. I just embrace it. Help me to see it, Spirit, and turn my affections toward You. Amen.