What Do You Love?
I’m often asked why it’s so hard for many people to talk to others about Jesus… I have come to believe that the main reason people don’t talk about Jesus isn’t that they lack training. I am convinced it is that they lack love. People need heart change—not just once, but over and over again, because their love grows cold. People need to be deeply affected by the incredible news of Jesus on a daily basis. What affects you greatly creates in you great affections. And those affections lead you to express verbally and physically what you love most, because you talk about what you love. Furthermore, you love what you talk about. And we all talk about what most affects us—what most powerfully works to affect change in our lives. Jesus said that it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). What comes out of your heart displays what’s in it and what has captured it.
Do you talk about Jesus? Has he captured your heart? Do you love him? When you come to know and experience the love God has for us in Jesus; when you realize that God loved us so much that he was willing to suffer and die for our sins, even though we were his enemies; when you meet Jesus and experience him pouring out his Spirit into your heart, filling you with himself and his love, you can’t contain it. You have to talk about it! The gospel is incredible! The word gospel literally means “good news.” Is it good news to you?
What do you get most excited about? What has most captured your affections? Be honest for a moment. What is it? Who is it? And why has it or he or she captured your heart? And if your affections have been captured, how have you been affected? What do you do in light of your heart being captured?
Most importantly, has Jesus captured your affections? Why or why not? Are you impressed with him? It will show, you know. If he has captured your affections, you will not be able to stop talking about him.
Start Talking
Another reason I talk about Jesus is that I’ve found you not only talk about what you love, but you also love what you talk about. Sometimes our love grows cold. Our hearts lose affection. We forget what we have, so we drift from what we love.
If you lack love for Jesus and want your love for him to grow, start talking about how amazing he is. Talk to yourself about him. By the way, you won’t be alone in this venture because he sent his Spirit to tell you what is true, good, and amazing about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the best at bragging on Jesus because he has known him forever and is more impressed with him than anyone. Read the Gospels and watch him closely. I would encourage you to read at least one Gospel a year to regularly reacquaint yourself with the love of your life. As you read, slow down and pay attention to his actions and words. Observe how well and how much he loves. Watch for his kindness and gentleness. Don’t miss his gracious love for the broken, the weary, and the sinful.
Then, as the Spirit shows you more about Jesus, talk about what you see and learn. Talk to your roommate about how amazing Jesus is. Tell your friends. Speak with your children about him. The more you do, the more you will love him. And the more you love him, the more you will want to talk about him. Never forget how he loved you first… Regularly go back to that day when his love for you first showed up on the front porch of your heart. Don’t forget what it was like when you were first captured by his affection for you. In your thoughts, go back regularly to what life was like without Jesus, then remember how he changed your life forever.
If that has not yet happened to you, if your affections have not yet been captured by Jesus Christ, I pray that will change for you. As it does, tell others about his love. You talk about what you love and you love what you talk about.
(Taken from Gospel Fluency Handbook by Jeff Vanderstelt, ©2017)
What do you get most excited about? What has most captured your affections?
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