Introduction
In this world, we all care deeply about who we love and the desire to be loved and accepted by others. The Bible teaches that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord God Almighty. In addition, the Lord Jesus responds to one of His disciples in John 14:23, promising, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” We express love for those whom we love because we can see and interact with them, but when we say, “I love you, Lord,” who is the real physical target of our love? Can we find or see the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit within our hearts? How do we discover their presence, and how can we see them to confirm our love for them? In this blog, we will discuss the concept of loving the Lord and the best images to keep in mind when expressing our love to Him.
The Great Commandments
In Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:29-31 responding to one’s question, the Lord Jesus teaches us about the great commandments. The Lord Jesus gives us two commandments to live by. First, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and second, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37 And He said to him, You shall love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 The second like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments all the law hangs, and the Prophets.
Comments Matthew 22:39-40. The neighbor here is anyone the Lord brings to your path, not those that only walk and pass you by, but those you interact with (see Luke 10:36-37). There is always some purpose in connecting with someone, regardless of the type of people you meet. If you are good to them, inside of them, they will have a question, “Why are you good to them?” And if the conversation comes, you can tell them this is one of the principles of teaching from the Bible. Make them think of the Bible, and you will open their hearts to search by themselves.
Mark 12:29 Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One,
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
31 The second this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is not another commandment greater than these.
When we read the commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength,” we might wonder what it truly means to love God. Who is the real focus of our love? When we say, “We love you, Lord,” is that expression filled with genuine feeling, or is it just an empty phrase? Can we find the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit in our hearts? How do we recognize their presence within us? Moreover, can one genuinely proclaim, “I love you, Lord,” if they do not spend time reading and meditating on the Word of God, feel excited about it, pray regularly, or appreciate the world that God has created?
The love of God flows in two directions: from the Lord to us and from us to the Lord. God desires for us to spend time in His presence and to fellowship with Him. God longs for us to engage with His Word, glorify Him through our prayers, express our gratitude in all circumstances, and remain steadfast in our faith in the Lord Jesus. He prompts us in our hearts to glorify Him. When we fail to listen to His voice, we often experience guilt—whether it’s related to our prayer life, our actions, or our sins. These feelings stem from the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit residing in our hearts, reminding us to respond to the Holy Spirit’s voice.
God’s mercy and love have been shown to all humans by sending His Son into the world to be a propitiation for the sins of the world (Romans 3:21-26). We see God in His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:9), His Word (John 1:1), and in His creation (Romans 1:20, Acts 14:17, Psalm 19:1, Job 12:7-9, and others).
What Should Be in Our Minds When We Say, We Love You, Lord?
As followers of the Lord Jesus, when we say, “We love you, Lord,” we typically refer to the Lord Jesus, as He represents the Trinity of God in human form (John 14:9). As humans, we naturally desire to physically interact with our loved ones to help us remember them. And, when we lose someone dear, we often keep a picture of them to cherish our memories. Although we can no longer see them in person, images serve as reminders of our affection. This need for a representation of our love is why many people seek to imagine or depict the Lord Jesus, whether to focus their thoughts on Him or for other reasons. However, when expressing our love for the Lord Jesus, do we envision the depictions we encounter in books, media, or church artwork, or do we think of Him as described in the Bible? The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and God of the Holy Trinity, must not be represented in images (Exodus 20:4, Deuteronomy 5:8). Additionally, only those who witnessed Him during His time on earth have seen His appearance as a man, so no one has an accurate image of how He looked then.
Therefore, when we say, “We love you, Lord,” what should be our primary focus of love? We need to think about how to envision the Lord Jesus in a way that is consistent with Biblical teachings. In this section, we will examine several Biblical perspectives to help us better understand and imagine our Savior, the Lord Jesus, as the Son of God and God of the Holy Trinity. Biblically, we can express our love for the Lord Jesus by recognizing Him as God of the Holy Trinity and God of creation, the sinless Lamb of God and the Savior of our souls, the Word of God, and the coming King and Lord of all.
First, the Lord Jesus is one with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (John 1:1, John 14:9, John 10:30, Colossians 2:9, Genesis 1:26, Genesis 11:7). He exists from the beginning with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and together they created all things, both seen and unseen. We can reflect on His magnificence and power when we observe the world around us and the vastness of the universe. We should love the Trinity of God, through the Lord Jesus, for His creation, His goodness, and for sustaining the universe, the Earth, and everything within them. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, is the bread of life, who came down to feed our souls and gives us life (John 6:35, John 6:51).
Second, the Lord Jesus is the sinless Lamb of God (John 1:29, John 1:36, 1 Corinthians 5:7, Revelation 13:8), who came to earth to die for the sins of the world and reconcile us with God the Father and to bring salvation to our souls through faith in Him. The Bible tells us that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We all need to seek forgiveness at the foot of the cross of the Lord Jesus, where He bore the sins of the world. As we reflect on the cross and the sufferings of Jesus Christ, we should consider the great agony He endured (Matthew 27:46). We can think of the cross as a tool of torture that the Romans used to punish criminals and instill fear in people. However, the Lord did nothing to deserve death on the cross; He was the sinless Lamb of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we reflect on the cruelty of His death on the cross, we can imagine the large, rusted metal nails that pierced the Lord’s hands and feet (Psalm 22:16), the spear that was thrust into His side (John 19:34), and the bitter drink they offered Him to inflict more suffering (John 19:29) while mocking Him. In the context of loving the Lord Jesus, we must recognize that each one of us has contributed to His pain, so we owe Him the salvation of our souls. The unrighteousness and evil of putting the innocent Lamb of God on the cross should strike us as cruel and gruesome. We can reflect on this without picturing a specific face associated with the Lord Jesus. When we experience even minor cuts, we understand how much they hurt, so it’s unimaginable to comprehend the suffering He endured from beatings, being hung on the cross, and the piercing of His body.
Third, the Lord Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1, John 1:14, 1 John 1:1, Revelation 19:13). Therefore, to love the Lord means to love reading and meditating on the Word of God. When we focus on the New Testament, we come to know the Lord Jesus more intimately and understand what He did for us and why. Our love, fueled by gratitude and thankfulness, deepens as we grasp the suffering of our Lord Jesus on the cross—what He accomplished there and the reasons behind it. By studying His teachings and reflecting on how He lived His life on earth, we gain insight into how He showed love to others and endured challenges. This understanding allows us to relate to Him on a personal level. Even without a physical image of Him, we can sincerely say, “We love You, Lord,” and, even more, to show our love to Him, we will be more motivated to follow His commandments, specifically to go be baptized in water by immersion and to seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Forth, the Lord Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of all (Revelation 19:16, 1 Timothy 6:15, Acts 10:36). We love the Lord because He sustains our lives—body, spirit, and soul. He gives us peace, forgives our sins every day, and shows us mercy as our true loving Father. He provides us with health and joy. Although we cannot see Him with our earthly eyes now, He will come one day, and we must long for His return. As the prayer says, “Our Father in heaven, your kingdom come,” we should desire His kingdom and yearn to see Him in all His glory (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4). We need to envision Him as the glorious King who will establish His kingdom and rule over His chosen ones. He will return gloriously to receive us into His kingdom, where we will be with Him for eternity. In the Book of Revelation, the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is depicted in many magnificent ways that can inspire us to form godly images of Him. We can envision the glorious portrayals of the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man (Revelation 1:13-16), as a King coming for His bride (Revelation 19:7-9), as the King of kings (Revelation 19:11-16), and as a morning star (Revelation 22:16).
Conclusions
As true followers of the Lord Jesus, we should express our love for the Trinity of God through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus (John 14:6, John 14:23, 1 John 5:1). We need to read and meditate on the Word of God, allowing us to appreciate better the life of the Lord Jesus on earth, His teachings, and His interactions with people. From the Word of God, we can see how the Lord Jesus loves all, including us, and that by following the commandments outlined in the Word of God and taking Him as an example for our lives, we can demonstrate our genuine love for the Lord. Additionally, the Bible is clear that we should not create any images of God within the Holy Trinity. If we truly love the Lord, we should refrain from depicting the Son of God in any form. We should reject any images of the Lord Jesus created by people in books or media. However, there are many Biblical ways to visualize the Lord Jesus. We discussed four biblical ways to envision our Lord as we express our love for Him. One particularly humbling image is to imagine the cross of the Lord Jesus and visualize ourselves as the nails that pierced His hands and feet, recognizing that our sins caused Him great suffering.
Meditation Tasks
- We encourage all readers to reflect on who the Lord Jesus is for them and to give Him the true love that He deserves. We also recommend reading our blog article, “Who is Your God?”