Jesus is More Than an Emotion

Last week I was given the opportunity to engage in an apologetic conversation with two individuals that were fairly skeptical toward Christianity. Our discussion centered on the person of Jesus--namely, who Jesus is and what he is about. Our conversation revealed something that I think is becoming increasingly common when it comes to discussing Jesus with people who are not Christians.

In this conversation both individuals were attracted to the idea that God is love. They found the biblical description that God is love to be quite agreeable. One of the individuals even said that Jesus is "pure love" and that we should "be lovable, always maintaining a positive disposition toward others, and never creating negative space or energy toward other people."

You don't have to be a Christian in order to believe in the power of love. Both individuals recognized the importance of love--even accredited Jesus as love, but still wanted nothing to do with actually following him. And conversing with these kinds of people can be difficult because we often use the same terminology--and it seems like they are affirming much of what we believe--but they remain skeptical, even hostile, toward Christian faith and practice. What's up with that? And what should we do?

I believe part of the solution begins with the recognition that Jesus is more than an emotion. The two individuals I talked with last week had all sorts of ideas about what love is and what it looks like, but none of those ideas came remotely close to how love is defined in the person of Jesus Christ. 1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another." Love, as defined by Jesus Christ, is inherently self-sacrificial. It looks like Calvary. And love cannot be understood apart from Calvary. You can't wrap your mind around love until you understand the mission of God in the person of Jesus Christ! What drove Jesus to the cross was love--a love that risked everything in order to put a sinful and broken humanity back into right relationship with the Creator of the universe! Love is not some vague emotion. It is not some positive disposition. To understand love you have to understand the story that drives Scripture--the story of redemption.

I think we need to clarify our definition of "love" when it comes to apologetic conversations. And since so many people are attracted to the concept of love, why not use the opportunity to provide an accurate definition of love by pointing to Jesus Christ?