a thought or two on love

lots has been said that is great. let me weigh in on a couple of things (or three)

on the whole loving people / loving Christ thing -- as i'm thinking about it, Jesus said whatever we do for "the least of these" (which could be any or all of us) we have done for him. he also said that obedience to him is how we demonstrate our love for him. if those things are true (and they are) then it seems that every time we love someone, we are loving Christ. which i think is just another way to say what cody said.

as for what it looks like to love Jesus more. i was thinking about how i fell in love with kenda. i didn't wake up one day and decide that was going to happen, it kind of snuck up on me. as i was with her and saw who she was and what she did and how she interacted with the world and with me i realized i was in love with her. i couldn't put my finger on a point when it happened, i just knew that it had. 14 years later as i continue to be with her and watch her and experience who she is and how she interacts with the world and with me and with our kids (etc.) i find myself falling more in love all the time. all that to say, i am in love with her because of her. i think it is the same thing with Jesus. if we are with him, if we see him interact with the world, if we know more about him and who he is and what he is doing, if we experience him in our lives then the result will be love for him that grows whether we focus on it or not. that's still not a how to, but i don't know that the "how" of that looks the same for any of us. i think if there was a rigid system for making it happen, God would have chosen to lay it out so that goofy people like me would be able to access it.
corey's right. thinking about love is a good thing.
j