How can I love Jesus more?

[Chxsa]

I've been burdened lately because I feel that I don't love Jesus as I should. I feel that I keep giving into covetousness and idolatry of having fun and serving myself with entertainment. It's as though I have little regard for Jesus and my relationship with Him. I want to love Him more and put Him first, but I'm always giving into "entertainment" more than Jesus Himself.

How can I have a deeper relationship with Jesus? I feel that whenever I give in to Jesus, I have to stop giving in to "entertainment" as much. I know it's an idol, and I am willing to give it up, and I do repent of it, but it seems that whenever I give it up, I give in to the temptation to go back to it.

(If you can, please pray for me as well!)  

[ii Delightful_Miracle ii]

Oh my, you sound just like me now. We all often stray upon those paths. The path to Heaven is narrow..and hard to walk on. However, you must deny your flesh and bear your cross like Jesus did. If we are to be Christ-like, we must be able to prove it. A double-minded man is abomination to our Lord. We cannot live two lives...only one. I am praying for you...as for myself because I do often fall short.  

[real eyes realize]

Just like we prayerfully discipline our thought-life, we need to discipline our decision-making. Ask God, in prayer, to help you make decisions with the eternal in mind and not the momentary physical comfort/pleasure. Ask yourself: does this activity have eternal consequences? Are the accomplishments of this activity going towards the betterment of myself and another individual? Will it be burned up in the fire on judgment day? Is this useless? Then it's not the priority right now. Let me get meditation, prayer, praise, serving others in first, and when I have time, I'll go for the entertainment—if I have time.

One way to go about it is having a written reminder somewhere—a to-do list even, with "God, prayer, praise, reading the bible" written at the very top, as the very first tasks—and not allowing yourself to do anything until "mission complete". And when I say "anything", I really do mean "anything": that includes before you get up, before you brush your teeth, before you eat, pick up a broom or your keys, what have you. He literally needs to be the first priority. Sacrifice the best of your time to God (the same way he expects the best of our animals as a sacrifice). Even if you have to cut out time from your sleep or go to sleep earlier, or cut things out from your life in order to have time.

As a heathen lost in the world, I would sacrifice sleep for gaming (one of my idols), waking up early when the servers were nearly empty, just for the sake of enjoying the game. I kept the same drive when the object of my devotion changed. If the pagans are doing it for earthly things that pass away, then what's our excuse when what (and who) we're serving is infinitely greater and longer lasting?

1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)

25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

edit: by "meditation", I mean meditating on scripture, not emptying your mind.  

[Artlic]

(This is a very late reply, but I hope it helps people who lurk around and want more answers to your question.)

I understand what you are going through, because I been through it on and off with God. Sometimes its really hard to understand how we can love someone who is invisible. How can you show your love for someone when you can't offer them food, or buy a teddy bear for them? We often wonder, how can we love God when we don't have the ability to give anything physical to him? While God gives all things to us through physical and spiritual, we often wonder. "How can I return the favor? What can I do for God? How can I express my love for Him?".

The thing is, God doesn't really require much out of us other than to be the example of love toward His people. So when you wonder how can you love God more, you have teach yourself how to love His people. That isn't easy. While entertainment is enjoyable, you have to learn if its truly good for you. A mindset I use that always helps is when you do something, ask yourself if its for you, or for God. When you think like that, you begin to wonder what would God do, and how would he react to the situation you are in. It truly untangles your mind, and defiles yourself pretty well. We want our hearts to be center around God, and not ourselves, and that truly takes a person who works with full effort to give up what makes him selfish, and move on with a path of peace and self-control.

No worries, God loves his kids, and doesn't want them to live like a plank of wood. He wants you to be happy, he wants you to enjoy life, but if that enjoyment becomes uncontrollable to where you ignore God and his people, you have to give it to God before it corrupts you.

I'll be praying for you.