Jonathan on...

   

...our love for Jesus Christ.

"1 Peter 1:8: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

... 1. Love to Christ: "Whom having not yet seen, ye love." The world was ready to wonder, what strange principle it was, that influenced them to expose themselves to so great sufferings, to forsake the things that were seen, and renounce all that was dear and pleasant, which was the object of sense. They seemed to the men of the world about them, as though they were beside themselves, and to act as though they hated themselves; there was nothing in their view, that could induce them thus to suffer, and support them under, and carry them through such trials. But although there was nothing that was seen, nothing that the world saw, or that the Christians themselves ever saw with their bodily eyes, that thus influenced and supported them, yet they had a supernatural principle of love to something unseen; they loved Jesus Christ, for they saw him spiritually whom the world saw not, and whom they themselves had never seen with bodily eyes."

(from A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards)

~ Tom

Comments

[Dorothy]

The verse that came to mind as I finished reading your post is..."we love Him because He first loved us..." There is really nothing in us to explain this because it is totally our Heavenly Father in us doing the loving. It is beautiful, a mystery and a blessing. We are in awe of our wonderful God who is the example of sacrificial love through Jesus.