Considerations

    What can we do to make our loved ones love Jesus?

    Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? Luke 15:3-4

    Recently I had a conversation with a friend about loved ones who were once on fire for the Lord and then got caught up in the mindset of the world. This is a familiar story for many of our loved ones who once were living for the Lord but then for various reasons their love for Jesus grew lukewarm or even cold; their lives being more of a reflection of the world than one pleasing unto the Lord. What do we do in situations like this? How can we turn things around and get them to the place of Jesus being their first love? What exactly can we do to make our loved ones love Jesus as we do?

    Sudden Realizations

    During this conversation, I shared with my friend the place where I currently find myself in this quest to make my loved ones love Jesus back. The response I gave her was based on two realizations that had hit me:

    1. I cannot make someone love Jesus. 
    2. Jesus never gave me the responsibility to make someone love Him back.

    These 2 statements were very freeing for me but yet at the same time frazzled me. If I can’t make someone love Jesus and it’s not even my responsibility to make it happen, how will my loved one get to that place of loving Jesus? In this post’s scripture focus, Jesus uses the parable of the lost sheep to show us that it is He, the Great Shepherd’s responsibility to run after those who are lost and separated from God. As believers, our responsibility is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey” the word of God according to the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20. These disciples would be followers of Jesus who have decided to express their love for Him by outwardly committing themselves through baptism to live a life in obedience to the Lord. Loving Jesus would be the necessary prerequisite to become one of His disciples. And this first step is what’s missing in the lives of some of our loved ones: loving Jesus.

    The Need to Taste and See for Themselves

    The problem with the question, ‘What can we do to make our loved ones love Jesus?’ is that it is focused on us making something happen. None of us have the ability to make someone love another. True love is never forced. This made me think about why I love Jesus. No one coerced me to love Him. I came to love Jesus because He met me right where I was. I wasn’t perfect and many times I was very unlovable (and still am today). But that did not stop Him from pursuing and finding me, that lost sheep, in real tangible ways. Hopefully each believer has a testimony about the personal hand of Jesus in their life that rescued them and compelled them to love Him back in response to His unconditional love for them.

    This is what we want for our loved ones: for them to also taste and see the love Jesus has for them (Psalm 34:8) and in response to genuinely love Him back. For Jesus to meet them where they are at, in real, tangible and personal ways. That they would have no doubt that God was real and that He sent Jesus to find and bring them back to Him. And in return, because of His amazing love, our loved ones would truly love Him back in word and deed. 

    So What Do We Do Now?

    There is really nothing we can do to make our loved ones love Jesus. However, we can live in their presence as ones who are loved by the Lord and who love Him in return through obedience and loving others. We can pray for them to see how Jesus unconditionally loves them and is pursuing them right where they are at in real tangible ways. We can also pray that this knowledge of His love will draw them to profoundly love Jesus back; starting the foundation of the intimate personal relationship God has wanted with them since the beginning of time.

    Remember,

    1. We cannot make someone love Jesus. 
    2. Jesus never gave us the responsibility to make someone love Him back.

    However, WE CAN…

    • Live as one loved by Jesus and love Jesus in return.
    • Like Jesus, love others where they are at.
    • Pray for them to see and feel Jesus’ love.
    • Pray for them to respond back with genuine love for Him. 
    • Trust in Jesus to draw our loved ones to Him in a way that we could never do. 

    So let’s do what we can and leave the Shepherd to do what only He can do in the lives of our loved ones.