Reading: 1 Peter 1:8

Love to Christ is a mark of a true believer. Although we cannot see Him with our eye, we love Him because He first loved us. This is what Peter stressed when writing to the tried and tested Christians in Asia Minor. Although they faced hard times and were in the midst of sustained and severe persecution, they loved the unseen Saviour. Their hearts were fixed on Him and they esteemed Him as the “altogether lovely one.” Our love to the unseen Christ should have certain characteristics.

We must love the unseen Saviour sincerely. Hypocrisy has no place in the life of a Christian. Our love to the Lord must be true and genuine. It is a sin to draw near with our lips while our hearts are far from Him. We must love Him in sincerity and in truth. Christ knows our hearts, so let our hearts be genuine towards Him.

We must love the unseen Saviour supremely. Christ not only deserves our love, He deserves our first love. We are to love the Lord more than our spouse, our children, or even our life itself. We are to love Him first and foremost. He is to be our greatest delight, our chief love, our great desire, and our highly esteemed Saviour. Second-place love is not the love Christ deserves: He deserves our all.

We must love the unseen Saviour fervently. Cold love is poor love. It is possible to be formal and forced in our professed love to Christ. We can be guilty of using the right words and doing the right things but without a real or fervent heart for the Lord. In his song of love, Solomon spoke of a love which many waters could not quench and which was as strong as death. Our hearts must burn within us for the Lord.

We must love the unseen Saviour constantly. Leaving our first love for Christ is a distinct problem for the Christian and a dreadful sin by the Christian. He loved us and continues to love us. Let us do the same.

Here is the greatest duty of the law, “Walk in love”; and the greatest pattern of the gospel, “as Christ also hath loved us.” (David Clarkson, Works, 3:3)