I Don't Love Jesus

I don’t love Jesus.

I’m sure you’re shocked to read that statement from a conservative, evangelical pastor. Honestly, I’m shocked to have written it. But it must be true, because in the past week, I have repeatedly failed the single most important test of my love for Jesus. I haven’t forwarded several religious emails that I’ve received from others, emails which clearly state that if I love Jesus—if I really love Him—then I need to forward them on to 5, 10 or 20 people.

I know I’m no Bible scholar, but I do consider myself somewhat well versed in Scripture. All week long I’ve been looking for that verse that says, And by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you forward on those catchy emails to others. Someone, please tell me where to find it!

It must be there because these emails are coming in at an ever increasing pace. And according to these emails, not only do I not love Jesus, but evidently, I don’t love the lost either. One email said, If you truly care that your friends don’t burn in hell, send this to them NOW.

If I believed for one second that such an email would cause a lost person to consider their eternal destiny and place their faith in Christ, I’d send the email out to everyone I know. But something tells me if I’m offended by the tone of such emails, the unsaved people I know would be much more offended.

Here’s an idea. Rather than spam our friends and family members, let’s try loving them. Rather than fill their inboxes, let’s fill their hearts. Rather than add to their burdens by giving them one more thing to read and delete, let’s encourage them with a phone call or an act of kindness.

I know that there are a lot of well meaning people who forward those emails, thinking they’re doing something important for the Kingdom of God. But what we say and how we live provides much better evidence of our love for God than what we do with emails.

Well, that’s enough about that. I’ve got to go now. I have a rich Nigerian uncle who died and all I have to do to collect my inheritance is to email them my bank account number…