The Heart of Jesus

This devotional series is called The Heart of Jesus. It consists of 28 devotions that are overflowing with God’s love for you.

Introducing The Heart of Jesus

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

I recently immersed myself in Jesus’ last days on earth—the week leading up to His death and resurrection. The overarching theme I took away from that study, was how much Jesus loves us.
Jesus saw the people around Him for who they really were. He could see into the depths of their hearts and often knew them better than they knew themselves.

And He sees us too.

He sees all of our faults and failures. He sees when we let ourselves down. Looking past the masks we wear, He sees all the way into the darkest corners of our hearts. And He is still overflowing with love for us.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-10

So often, we read those verses as instructional. We read a tedious list that tells us how we ought to love those around us. Like it’s a list of all the ways we fall short when it comes to loving others. But 1 John 4:19 reminds us that, “We love because he first loved us.”

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Those verses in 1st Corinthians aren’t primarily telling us how to love others. Instead, they are describing God’s love for us.

God’s love for us is patient and kind. Jesus didn’t envy those around Him with more power, and easier life, or anything else. He didn’t boast about being in the right. He simply looked at the people around Him and loved them with all that was in Him.

Jesus was literally God, but He didn’t use that to beat people over the head. He called sin, sin, but most often He did it with love. He didn’t lose His temper or roll His eyes. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that God’s kindness was meant to lead sinners to repentance (2:4). That’s why Jesus endured the cross. He bore it all because of His love for us.

At the end of our earthly lives, everything else will fall away, but God’s love will remain. It never ends. The Bible is full of examples of God’s love on display. From Genesis to Revelation, we see His love in action. But they aren’t just historical accounts, they are also pictures of His love for us.

I hope you’ll join me in this devotional series as I lean into the heart of Jesus.