What is Love to Christ?
by Thomas Doolitle (Puritan Preacher – 1630-1707)
Love shows the true character of a man,
according to the object which he loves more than anything else: for as is the
love, so is the man. According to his love, so might you confidently designate
the man. If he is a lover of honor, he is an ambitious man; a lover of
pleasure, a sensual man; and if he chiefly love the world, he is a covetous
man. If a man loves righteousness, he is a religious man; if the things above,
a heavenly-minded man; and if he love Christ with a pre-eminent love, he is a
sincere man: "Rightly do they love you.," Song of Songs 1:4.
If Christ has our love, he has our all; and
Christ never has what he deserves from us, till he has our love. True love
withholds nothing from Christ, when it is sincerely set upon him. If we
actually love him, he will have our time, and he will have our service, and he
will have the use of all our resources, and gifts, and graces; indeed, then he
shall have our possessions, freedom, and our very lives, whenever he calls for
them. In the same way, when God loves any of us, he will withhold nothing from
us that is good for us. He does not hold back his own only begotten Son, Romans
8:32. When Christ loves us, he gives us everything we need-- his merits to
justify us, his Spirit to sanctify us, his grace to adorn us, and his glory to
crown us. Therefore, when any of us love Christ sincerely, we lay everything
down at his feet, and give up all to be at his command and service: "And
they loved not their lives unto the death," Revelation 12:11.
