It is a heartwarming truth that “the Lord is my portion” (Lamentations 3:24), but it is equally true that “the Lord’s portion is His people” (Deuteronomy 32:9). I have often gloried in the fact that God is my joy, my inheritance, my future. But I have often forgotten that I am His joy, His inheritance, His future. He told Moses and the Israelites to build Him a home in the desert of Sinai “that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). God loves to be in the midst of His people, sharing their joys and sorrows and receiving their love and praise.
When Jesus sat with His disciples the night before His crucifixion, He asked them to remember Him (Luke 22:19). The wistfulness of a deeply loving heart is evident in that request. Love cannot stand alienation or neglect. Jesus did not rebuke Mary for pouring expensive perfume over His feet. It was the largess of love, the gratuity of love. When we pour out such an expression to Him, He rejoices with great gladness of heart.
Jesus asked Simon Peter a pertinent question, “Lovest thou me more than these?” (John 21:15, KJV). Love cannot stand a rival. Jesus calls me to love without limit, hesitation, or condition. That is the way He is: “God so loved the world” (John 3:16, italics added). I must so love Him! He measures my love by His own, not in amount but in quality. He cannot stand divided, spoiled, or lukewarm love. He is pleased only by His kind of love reflected in me. Let me not hesitate or hold back by so high a standard of love, for “the Lord [will] direct [our] hearts into the love of God” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). His help is assured when my spiritual love life flags and grows thin.
“Jesus said therefore to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life’” (John 6:67–68).
Daily with the King 