Loving someone more than they love you

Most of us have had it happen, we have loved someone more than they loved us.

Hopefully it was not a marriage partner, although sad to say, that has happened too

often. For most of us it happened early in life, maybe it was an adolescence crush on

someone; it could have been a classmate or even a teacher. For some it happened during

their teenage years. Perhaps me just bringing it up brings back painful memories, or as

an adult, you may be able to look back with some humor on the occasion. I think back to

my “crush” on Patti, a girl in my sixth grade class. I was smitten, and knew she was the

only girl for me, unfortunately, she did not know I even existed. I even tried bribing her

by giving her a gift, but that didn’t work either. I carried that rejected puppy love for

several hours, or even a handful of days.

You may be one of the fortunate ones to never have experienced this, or you may have

been the “other one” who someone else loved more than you loved them. Have you ever

stopped to think, that the King of Glory, the only Sovereign God has had the heart

breaking experience of loving someone more than they love Him? It is true, the Lord

Jesus Christ has experienced this an innumerable amount of times. First and foremost,

He loved the world, who by-enlarge, rejected Him. He came unto His own, but they did

not receive Him (John 1:11). But even His loved and chosen ones have not returned His

love to the degree that he has loved them. I know what you are thinking, “well, He is

God, we could never love that much”, and you would be right. Still, there is something

sad about that. You would think it would be the other way around, I mean, He is God,

altogether lovely, we should love Him the most possible. And we are sinners, and God

knows all about us, so He shouldn’t love us so much. Rather amazing isn’t it!

Remember the dialog between Peter and Jesus on the shore of Galilee? It was one of the

“post resurrection” appearances of Christ. Jesus asks Peter three times; “Peter, do you

love me more than these?” Peter responds, “Lord you know all things, you know I love

you.” (John 21:17) I think what Peter is implying here, is “Lord, I know I said I love you,

but I failed. I do love you, but I now realize you love me more. Lord this is the best I can

do.” That is what I think anyway, maybe because I know my own heart. O how often my

love fails and is inconsistent. I want to love Christ with all my heart, soul, body and mind,

but O how often I fail. He loves me more. A few days ago, I was reading Matthew 26, and

I stopped at verse 40 and meditated on that verse for a while. It says, “Could you men not

watch with me for one hour?” I know what the context of that verse is, but the thought

came to my mind, “the Lord wants to spend time with me, more than I do with Him.”

What an amazing thought! I rush here and there, always busy, seeking to serve Christ

and carry out my commitments, but the One who loves me, wants me to stop and spend

time with Him. He loves me more than I love Him.

It strikes me in scripture how many times the Lord talked about preparing a place for us

in heaven. He loves us and wants to be with us. Listen to His words in John chapter 14;

“I am going to prepare a place for you…so you may be where I am.” Jesus wants us to

be with Him, more than we want to be with Him. He loves us more than we love Him.

Dear friends, we are not God, God is the very essence of love, and God is love. His love

is higher, deeper and stronger than ours ever will be. But that need not stop us in our

pursuit of loving God more than we do. We should desire to grow daily in our love for

Christ. We should look for ways to demonstrate that love, and I am not talking about

greater acts of service, as good as those may be. I am talking about developing intimacy

with Him, spending time with Him, and telling Him more often that we love Him. When

was the last time you told Him that? Why not begin to make a practice of telling him that

each day, how about several times throughout the day? I think that you will be surprised

to find your love for Him growing.