“Lord, you know that I love you.” John 21:15

In the fall of 1968, Jaymes Morgan, my professor of theology at Fuller Seminary, who died of stomach cancer the next year, looked me in the eye during a heated debate after class and said, “John, I love Jesus Christ!”

I have never forgotten that testimony. It was one of the most powerful words ever spoken to me.

When was the last time you ever said to anyone—your spouse, your child, your friend, your colleague—“I love Jesus Christ”? May I urge you to do that? What if 10,000 Christians in Minneapolis (or pick your town) said to someone today with eye-to-eye earnestness, “I love Jesus Christ”? This would be a tidal wave of truth and power.

Why would this be so significant? The reason is not because saying you love Jesus makes him true. The reason is that when we are not saying we love him we create the atmosphere one would expect if he is not true. Or to put it positively, when believers are saying with humble joy, “I love Jesus Christ,” they are creating the atmosphere one would expect if Jesus is true.

The function of a testimony about our love for Jesus is not to prove that he is true, but to remove the unhelpful impression that he is not true and not loved.

Let your love be spoken today. Think on what he has done for you. If you were discussing with a neighbor your uncle Joe who gave you one of his kidneys and died a few weeks later because his remaining kidney failed, you would say with tears of joy, “I love my uncle Joe. O how I love uncle Joe.”

May I testify simply today: I love Jesus Christ.