Question

Does it have to be Jesus Who is made lovely?  Can’t it be that we feel the need for a relationship with God so we see God as whole as lovely?  I know I need Jesus for salvation but my love and devotion is to God in general, rather than Jesus specifically.

Answer

When God’s Spirit opens our eyes, He makes God desirable and lovely.  To have a relationship with Him is now what you truly desire.  Even though you are surrounded with loving family and all other kinds of blessings, you will sense that the most important aspect of your life is missing.  God’s fellowship is the ‘hidden treasure’ or the ‘precious pearl’ you will now seek for with all your heart.  Nothing will be too great to sacrifice in order to obtain Him as your God and Father.

Yet in that search for God you will also see that you and God are infinitely apart.  He is holy and just but  everything in you is unholy.  Never can these two come together.  God cannot be yoked ‘unequally’ with a sinner.  It is easy to fall into the thinking that God may be quite pleased with my devotion and love.   Looking back you can see how you used to think and live;  that is now all different.   Yet we can’t base our relationship with God on anything we are or do because it is still sin-soiled.  On that basis God can never have a relationship with us.  Only on the basis of perfect obedience and perfect love is reconciliation between God and us possible.   That discovery is so necessary and it is the Holy Spirit Who works this in a saving manner.

But that’s where the Holy Spirit will also reveal to us the significance and provision of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the LORD our righteousness;  He is only Mediator between God and man;  His merits alone can be the basis of my reconciliation with God;  His sacrifice alone can satisfy God’s demands for justice. His constant intercession in heaven is the only way that keeps the access to God’s heart open.

Perhaps you have not seen much of this significance of the Lord Jesus.  But the more God will lead you to see the love and importance of the only Prophet, Priest and King, the more also your devotion and love to the Lord Jesus will increase.

Yet it also true that we can’t separate our love to the Three Persons in the Trinity.  When we love God, we love Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Though each has a unique role in the work of salvation, they are always together and also need to be worshipped together.  Even though Jesus Christ is the Mediator Who sacrificed Himself willingly to take the curse for His people,  it is still the Father who gave His only begotten Son and it is the Spirit Who made the Father and His Son precious to our hearts.

Warmly,

Pastor Vergunst