Deeper Reflection
Our service to God should be motivated by our love for Him (v.14). Do you know how much Jesus loves you? He loves us beyond what we can humanly comprehend. The magnitude of His love – its breadth, length, height and depth – can only be known (albeit still in part) by us through God’s enabling.¹⁶ Jesus’ love saw Him willingly suffer and die on the cross for our sake.¹⁷ The sinless One willingly bore our sins in His body.¹⁸ The righteous One chose to die for the unrighteous.¹⁹ God’s righteous wrath and just punishment fell upon Jesus instead of us.²⁰ He was forsaken by the Father so that we do not have to be abandoned by God.²¹ So great is Christ’s love for us and the salvation that we have in Him! He is our glorious Lord and risen Saviour, worthy of all our worship! “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!”22Only love for God, overflowing from a grateful heart, can motivate joyful worship and a lifetime of loving service to Him and therefore to your neighbour. Our love for Christ leads us to live for Christ. Our love for self leads us to live for self. Our hearts are naturally oriented towards the self. The Holy Spirit works in the Christian to produce a God-oriented heart. The process is lifelong and can often be painful because it involves the surrender of one’s heart and reorientation of one’s soul. Let us yield to the Holy Spirit, so that our hearts will increasingly love the Lord, and therefore people in His name and for His sake.

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¹⁶ Ephesians 3:16-19. ¹⁷  Hebrews 12:2 ¹⁸ 1 Peter 2:24 ¹⁹ 1 Peter 3:18. ²⁰ Isaiah 53:4-6. ²¹ Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34 ²² The final two lines of the sublime hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”, written by Isaac Watts and first published in 1707