Because I Love Him

Because I Love Him

Like my dad, I love all things Christmas.  I always have.  I get caught up every December in having everything perfect.  The perfect gifts, the perfect decorations, the perfect family time.  “Just a little more,” I think.  I want it all to be enough, and I’m striving to find that place of satisfaction and joy.  Yet I’m missing something. 

You know what I’m missing, don’t you?  It’s Jesus.  That’s so obvious, but the obvious can also be dismissed easily.  So for several weeks I’ve been trying to make the obvious a reality.  One encouragement has been the simple words from a song we sing:  Prepare Him room.  Let the King of glory enter in.  Will I prepare room for him in my heart?  To make room, I first have to push out things that are filling my heart such as my quest for the perfect Christmas.

I’ve known Jesus for many years.  I’m a pastor’s wife.  I’ve heard many sermons.  But I’ve been wondering, do I really know him and love him?

In wonderful Psalm 91, the psalmist declares God’s protective heart and power.  Then God concludes with his own testimony about the psalmist:

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”  (Psalm 91:14 NIV)

So simple yet so profound:  Because he loves me.  The Lord noticed and honored the psalmist’s personal walk with him.  Reading this challenges me.  Simply stated, do I love the Lord?  Does he have first place in my heart, or does my quest for the perfect Christmas have first place?

He desires a depth in my walk with him.  Will I set my love upon God?  Will I seek him with all my heart that I might sing like this, from the song, None Like You?

There is none like You
No one else can touch my heart like You do
And I can search for all eternity, Lord
And find, there is none like You