Head and heart aren’t the same thing. Knowledge about Jesus’ works doesn’t necessarily translate into love for him (Revelation 2:4). You can even know the theological implications of those works: his active obedience to the Father throughout his life; Jesus’ death and resurrection, leading up to his ascension; his present interceding at the right hand of the Father or sending of the Spirit; and so on.

“I love Jesus.” Among my more charismatic friends, this is a very common phrase. But you will even hear it from more reserved Presbyterian brothers, like myself. Chances are you’ve said it. “I love Jesus.” But what does it mean? How does one do that? Pulpits across our continent exhort the church to love Jesus. The phrase is no stranger to counselling and pastoral situations either. The man struggling with porn is told to love Jesus. But, how?

We Love Three Persons, Not One

Whom are you to love? You are to love Jesus who is the second person of the Godhead. The son of God, who was eternally begotten. At the outset, this can sound dry and a little too rational. We are to love the second person of the Trinity. However, over Christmas we celebrated that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. He identifies with us, in our humanity (Hebrews 2:14; 4:15).

But Jesus’ humanity does something else. It makes him an all too easy target of our language and love. Because we know how to love humans by experience – from family to friends, spouses to children – Jesus seems like an obvious pick to be the object of our love. Here we must be very careful. Careful that we don’t forget that God is three persons, not one. This means we can’t worship Jesus but ignore the Godhead. We mustn’t make Jesus the object of our love and forget the Father or sideline the Spirit.

Yes, we should love Jesus, but not separate from the Father and the Son. When we think about loving Jesus, it should be to love God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

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