If you have truly believed on Jesus as your Savior, you should already love Him. We read in 1st John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.” What do the words “He first loved us” mean? We have the answer in verses 9-10, “In this THE LOVE OF GOD was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He LOVED US and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This clearly teaches us that no one loved God but God loved us and manifested His love to us by sending His Son (to this earth and then to the cross to die for our sins). The moment a sinner “believes this” THEY ARE SAVED (Acts 16:31 with 1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Ephesians 5:25 declares, “Christ LOVED the church and gave Himself for it.” Do you believe this? Then you SHOULD LOVE HIM, having experienced His LOVE FOR YOU!

Listen to what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “For I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.” Notice how Paul had one object before him: Christ and His love for him, the love that led Him down from the heights of heaven to the depths of the cross to “give Himself for Paul.” This, dear friend, is the key to “loving Jesus;” by being occupied “with His love for you,” and “not with your love for Him.”

Listen to what the Apostle John said in John 13:23, “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, WHOM JESUS LOVED.” Do you know which disciple John was speaking of? He was referring TO HIMSELF! He refers to himself 4 other times in this way (19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). Like Paul, John was not focused on HIS LOVE for Jesus (for he knew that our love can ebb and flow); he was laser-focused on JESUS’ LOVE FOR HIM. I believe each believer can adopt this same language and refer to ourselves as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” We aren’t boasting in saying this, we are just taking God at His word (as we saw above Ephesians 5:25 and Galatians 2:20). There was another disciple who did boast of his love and loyalty for Jesus and yet he ended up denying the Lord three times on one occasion. I’m speaking of the Apostle Peter (John 13:36-38 with Mark 14:66-72). Peter did end up repenting of this sin and learned the lesson that John and Paul had learned; to focus on Jesus’ love for him and not on our love for Him.

Now let’s ponder your words, “I just don’t know how to have a personal relationship with Him…how do I get to know the Person Jesus?” I will ask you, “If you truly believe on Jesus as your Savior, how did you come to know him as your Savior? Why it was “through the Word of God.” At some point you “heard the gospel of Jesus Christ” (how He “died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day) and YOU BELIEVED IT! We read in Romans 10:17, “FAITH comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” You entered upon a “life of faith” by believing on Jesus and His finished work on the cross.” That was your first step on your journey to heaven. Now you must continue that “life of faith” by learning more and more of the Lord “through the Word of God.” As a believer, you have the Holy Spirit living in you (John 14:15-17; Ephesians 1:13 and Romans 8:9); and His desire is to keep you focused on the Lord Jesus and His love for you (John 16:12-15). When you sit down to read and study the Bible, ask the Father to reveal more of the Lord Jesus to you by the Spirit. If you do this, you will indeed “get to know the Person of Jesus” more and more. And you will then become more like Him, as we see in 2nd Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.” And the more you know Him, the more you will want to “know Him better!” The Apostle Paul could say (after being saved for 30 years!), “That I may know Him” (Philippians 3:10). Paul knew Him intimately, but he wanted to “know Him better!” (DO)  (609.5)