The most powerful incentive to overcoming sin is not our love for Christ, but His love for us. Even with the best of intentions, our love for Him is subject to fluctuations. Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, ‘You have left your first love’ (Revelation 2:4 NKJV). He said to the church in Laodicea that their love had become ‘lukewarm’ (Revelation 3:16). Many of us grew up in churches where we were told that the reason we yield to certain carnal traits is because we don’t love the Lord enough. So, we try harder, without success, and get discouraged. That’s like putting the cart before the horse. It should be the other way around. The secret of victorious Christian living is not found in trying to love Jesus more, but in having a revelation of His love for you. That’s why Paul wrote, ‘The love of Christ constraineth us.’ Paul’s actions were governed by the knowledge of Christ’s incredible love for Him. If you’re struggling with sinful habits today, pray for a revelation of God’s love for you. It makes all the difference! Paul writes: ‘I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts…as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love; and may you be able to…understand…how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never…fully…understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself’ (Ephesians 3:17-19 TLB).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.