Consider The Lack Of Love For God(Christ) By Thomas Vincent

Consider The Lack of Love For God(Christ):

We will consider this topic at two fronts:

Those who have no love for God (Christ)
Those who have some love for God(Christ), but not enough

Those Who Have No Love For God (Christ)

To those who have no love for this unseen Christ. Let reproof be spoken.

What! Are you creatures created by Christ and yet have no affection for Him? Are you rational?
Do you have souls capable of loving Him yet lack love?
Are some of you teachers who reject Christ? Fake dedication, but no real affection for the object of your worship?
Not enough to engage and bring forth your love unto Christ, Sinners?
What say you? Is there a Jesus Christ—or not?
No Bibles? Have you read the history of Jesus Christ? And how do you feel about the past? Is it true?
Do you think the gospel is a clever fable? Aren’t the Scriptures, which contain this gospel, the unchanging Word of God?
Aren’t there enough divine characters on them to prove their divine origin to anyone who looks into them and doesn’t close their eyes to the light?
And, if there is such a person as Jesus Christ (which is true), why do you have no love for Him? And yet, do you not love Him?
Can you love imperfectly wonderful people and things and not love Jesus Christ who is completely lovely?
What kind of person wouldn’t love Jesus Christ who is the Lord of glory and has all power and authority in heaven and on earth?
And so, how can you love those who have earthly wisdom and knowledge—and not love Jesus Christ, who is the divine wisdom of the Father? To love generously without loving Christ, whose wealth is supreme and whose gifts are most rich and transcendent?
Can you adore kind friends and not love Jesus Christ, the best friend men ever had?
CAN YOU LOVE A BENEFICIARY WHO FEEDS YOU, CLOTHES YOU, AND GIVES YOU MONEY—AND NOT LOVE CHRIST, WHO OFFERS TO FEED YOUR HUNGRY SOULS WITH THE BREAD OF LIFE, CLOTHE YOUR NAKED SOULS WITH THE garments of His righteousness, AND GIVE YOU THE SPIRITUAL RICH
Can you love riches and not love Christ, in whom there are treasures, and through whom you may enjoy both spiritual and heavenly riches here and now? A crown of splendor in the celestial world—can you love honors and not love Christ?
Can you love freedom and not love Christ, who can set you free from the devil’s and your own lusts?
Can you love safety without loving Christ, the sole Savior of mankind, who alone keeps you safe from the greatest of adversaries and evils?
Can you love peace and not love Christ, who brings peace with God and peace with yourself?
Can you adore pleasures and delights and not love Christ, who can give you joys infinite and glorious, in addition to the future pleasures?

Neither your original sin nor any of your real sins are pardoned unless you love Christ. They’re all your fault, and you’ll have to account for them all.

You are under the law’s curse for breaking the law—but also under the gospel’s punishment for disobedience to this gospel requirement, which demands you to love the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 16:22 “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!” That is, curse him till the Lord comes. Will the Lord remove your curse when He returns? No! He will come in the scorching fire to avenge you, having threatened to destroy those who disobeyed the message. And you? But Sodom and Gomorrah will be punished with a fire worse than that which fell from heaven and burned their people and dwellings; a fire of hell which will be started and kept alive forever by God’s breath!

But those who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ will be punished worse than the wicked Sodomites! It will be tolerable for them—but not for you. For gospel sinners, the wrath of hell and the scourge of conscience will be the most excruciating! Keep in mind that if you don’t love Christ, He will tear you apart when He comes to judge! You will be hurled into the awful furnace of hell if you do not have the beautiful fire of love for Christ lit in your hearts here!

Those Who Have Some Love For God (Christ)

Isn’t your love for Christ tiny compared to His love for you, and to the love some Christians have achieved? How intense was their love for Christ—leaving all to follow Him, especially after His resurrection and ascension into heaven. O what a love for Christ was enkindled in them! So they boldly declare Christ before the chief priests and elders, Acts 4. So they rejoiced when beaten for possessing and teaching Christ, Acts 5:41.

Consider Paul’s Love For Christ

Paul’s love for Christ was equal to that of Peter and John, thus he took considerable pains to proclaim the gospel in so many places, Romans 15:19. See also how he approves himself as a Christ minister and shows his deep love for his Master. 2 Cor 11:23-29 “I’ve done more for him! I’ve toiled harder, been jailed more, whipped more, and faced death many times. The Jews slapped me 39 times. I got rode three times. I was stoned. I was shipwrecked 3 times. I once spent a night and day at sea. I’ve walked far. I’ve had to deal with flooded rivers and robbers. I was threatened by both my own people, Jews, and Gentiles. I’ve been in peril in towns, deserts, and wild seas. Then there are the men who claim to be Christians but aren’t. I’ve had fatigue, soreness, and insomnia. I’ve often been hungry and thirsty. I’ve shivered many times in the cold, without adequate gear. Then there’s the daily burden of how the churches are doing.” 2 Cor 11:23-29

For Christ’s sake, I enjoy weaknesses, insults, sufferings, persecutions, and challenges. The love of Christ compelled him, 2 Corinthians 5:14. “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!” he said in Philippians 1:21. His life was dedicated to Christ.

Consider Others Who Love Christ

But where is such love now? Ignatius, Polycarp, Jerome, and others were all lovers. If my father crying on his knees before me, my mother hanging on my neck behind me, my brothers, sisters, and kinsfolk shouting on every side, to keep me in a sinful course—I would fling my mother to the ground, run over my father and hate all my family, so that I can flee to Christ!”

In comparison to those legendary martyrs who hated the flames and braved such racking and painful deaths for the love of Jesus Christ, their love burning stronger within them—than the fire without them in which their bodies were devoured! Isn’t your love dwarfed by the love of our late reformers, which inspired them to endure a world of anti-Christian hatred and opposition? Is your love similar to that of many prominent divines and private Christians of our own land, who are now sleeping in their graves, yet how few have replaced them?

Consider Those who Have Some Love For Christ But Not Enough

Isn’t it clear in the vast degradation of love, even among devout Christians, for Jesus Christ?
Aren’t you tiny compared to others?
Aren’t you new Christians, weak in your love for Christ?
Isn’t it clear you don’t love Christ when He’s absent from your thoughts and prayers? Love’s handmaids are thoughts. Many thoughts will attend a deep and fervent love, but won’t your hearts tell you that your thoughts of Christ are few?
You can think about food a lot, but how often do you think about Christ, the Bread of Life?
You often think of your clothes, but how often do you consider Christ’s righteousness?
But how frequently do you think of your heavenly companion, Jesus Christ?
Objects of sense are often in your eyes and thoughts, but how often is Christ, the object of faith, in your thoughts?
Isn’t it a sign of lack of love for Christ that you speak so little of Him and for Him in your conversations?
Wouldn’t your love for Christ shine through your words if you truly loved Him?

You easily praise yourself and do it frequently, either directly or indirectly, revealing your deep self-esteem. How little you praise your Lord and Master with your lips! Isn’t this evidence of your lack of love for Him? However, leaving Christ out of your speech demonstrates a lack of love for Him because the mouth speaks of the richness of the heart. Those who enjoy pleasures will frequently discuss them, whereas those who value friendship will frequently praise them. And speaking poorly of Christ shows a lack of love for Him.

What if your lack of concern for Christ’s honor in the world reflects your lack of love for Him?
Where are your activities for Christ to promote His interest among your relations and friends?
Do you do all you can to lead others to God and Christ?
Besides, won’t your secret loyalty to Christ argue your secret affection?
How many times do you pray in solitude and chat with Christ in your closets? Prayer in secret, argues a heart devoted to Jesus Christ.

Isn’t your reluctance to show Christ your love a sign of weakness? How sluggish to accept Christ’s love! What a challenge! Not only do you not need to be convinced to love your spouses, but also your children, if they are kind and hopeful. Not only do you not need to be convinced to love your friends, if they are kind and devoted. You’re against this love.

Do I need to convince you of your lack of love for Christ?
Will not this overwhelming evidence be sufficient to convict your own conscience?
Imagine what a sin, humiliation, and folly it is that you Christians have so little love for Jesus Christ!
If having no love for Christ is such a grave sin that it puts strangers under the most horrible curse, how much less can it be for you (His loyal disciples)?
It bothers the Father that you have so little affection for His Son. If He doesn’t despise you for your closeness to Christ, isn’t He upset with you for your lukewarmness toward Him, a sin made worse by your proximity?
Isn’t it dishonorable to Christ that you don’t love Him?
Do you not argue that He has no worth or amiability—when you have no affection for Him?
Are you not ungrateful to Christ in ways that even the most obliging human friend would find offensive?
Isn’t it a shame that you don’t love Christ as much as He deserves?
Doesn’t His immense goodness to you necessitate both the truth and the strength of your love?

Consider what He has done and suffered for you. Consider what He has bought for you and what He has promised. Think of everything He has planned for you—and yet you have so little love for Christ! But such lousy returns!

Isn’t it foolishness to have so little love for Christ?
Do you not lose, or deprive yourself of, an unfathomable serenity, sweetness, and comfort in the strength of your love—and in the awareness of His love?
Isn’t your lack of love for Christ causing you pain and harm?
Must you draw on God’s ways as Pharaoh did when his chariot wheels were removed?

Love for Christ is like oil for the wheels, making you ready for any good work He leads you to! But when you have little love for Christ, you must move slowly and sluggishly in His work. You cannot, will not, take those pains in the Lord’s work and be as ardent for your Master’s honor as you should be.

Finally, if you have little love for Christ, you will be prone to faint in times of trouble, shrink when called to bear His cross, and suffer for His sake. You will be discomposed by little afflictions, terrified and amazed by greater sufferings, and risk becoming scared apostates in times of enormous difficulties. It takes enormous love for Christ and faith to persevere through sufferings with courage.

This article is edited from “The True Christian’s Love to the Unseen Christ” by Thomas Vincent. Check our collection of articles on this topic in the related posts, alternatively, you can get a copy of the book from Amazon.