A good way to answer that question is by quoting this article entitled "WILL YOU RESPOND TO JESUS' LOVE?" in toto:
TRULY, how marvelous the love of Jesus is! When we consider how he suffered indescribably as he furnished the ransom, by which alone we may gain everlasting life, surely our hearts are moved with appreciation for him! Jehovah God and Jesus himself took the initiative. They loved us first, while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:6-8; 1 John 4:9-11) Knowing “the love of the Christ,” wrote the apostle Paul, “surpasses knowledge.” (Ephesians 3:19) Indeed, Jesus’ love ascends far above academic head knowledge. It goes beyond anything else ever seen or experienced by humans.
Writing to Christians in Rome, Paul asked: “Who will separate us from the love of the Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword?” None of such things can keep Jesus from loving us. “I am convinced,” Paul continues, “that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Romans 8:35-39.
The love of Jehovah God and Jesus for you is that powerful. There is only one thing that can stop them from loving you, and that is your own willful rejection of their love by refusing to do what they ask. A prophet of God once explained to a Judean king: “Jehovah is with you as long as you prove to be with him; and if you search for him, he will let himself be found by you, but if you leave him he will leave you.” (2 Chronicles 15:2) Who of us would ever want to turn away from such wonderful, compassionate friends as Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ?
Proper Response to Jesus’ Love
How are you personally affected by Jesus’ unbounded love for you? How should you be? Well, Jesus showed how his demonstration of love should affect our relationships with fellow humans. After humbly serving his apostles by washing their feet, Jesus said: “I set the pattern for you, that, just as I did to you, you should do also.” He added: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:15, 34) His disciples learned, and they were moved to try to do as he did. “By this we have come to know love,” the apostle John wrote, “because that one surrendered his soul for us; and we are under obligation to surrender our souls for our brothers.”—1 John 3:16.
Still, we would miss the purpose of Jesus’ life and ministry if we were moved by his example simply to love and serve the interests of fellow humans. Should not Jesus’ love for us cause us also to love him in return and especially to love his Father, who taught him everything that he knows? Will you respond to Christ’s love and serve his Father as he did?—Ephesians 5:1, 2; 1 Peter 1:8, 9.
Consider the case of Saul, who later became known as Paul. At one time he persecuted Jesus, “breathing threat and murder against the disciples.” (Acts 9:1-5; Matthew 25:37-40) When Paul really came to know Jesus, he was so grateful for receiving forgiveness that not only was he willing to suffer in Jesus’ behalf but he was also ready to die for him. “I am impaled along with Christ,” he wrote. “It is no longer I that live . . . Indeed, the life that I now live in flesh I live by the faith that is toward the Son of God, who loved me and handed himself over for me.”—Galatians 2:20.
What a compelling force in our lives should be the love that Jesus has for us! “The love the Christ has compels us,” Paul wrote the Corinthians, ‘to live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died for us and was raised up.’ (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15) Indeed, gratefulness to Jesus for giving his life in our behalf should move us to do whatever he asks. Only in this way can we prove that we truly love him. “If you love me, you will observe my commandments,” Jesus said. “He that has my commandments and observes them, that one is he who loves me.”—John 14:15, 21; compare 1 John 2:3-5.
Upon learning Jesus’ commandments, fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, drunkards, and extortioners in ancient Corinth responded to Jesus’ love by quitting those practices. Paul wrote of them: “You have been washed clean, . . . you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Similarly, the love of Jesus has compelled many today to make remarkable changes in their lives. “The true triumphs of Christianity were seen in making good men of those who professed her doctrines,” wrote historian John Lord. “We have testimony to their blameless lives, to their irreproachable morals, to their good citizenship, and to their Christian graces.” What a difference the teachings of Jesus have made!
Surely, no study can be undertaken by a person today that is of more importance than that of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. “Look intently at . . . Jesus,” urged the apostle Paul. “Indeed, consider closely [that] one.” (Hebrews 12:2, 3) During Jesus’ transfiguration, God himself commanded regarding his Son: “Listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5) It should be emphasized, though, that listening to Jesus includes more than simply hearing what he says. It means heeding his instructions, yes, copying him by doing what he did in the way that he did it. We respond to Jesus’ love by adopting him as our model, by following closely in his footsteps.
What Jesus Wants Us to Do
Jesus’ commission from God was to preach about his Father’s Kingdom, and he trained his followers to do the same work. “Let us go somewhere else,” he told his first disciples, “that I may preach there also, for it is for this purpose I have gone out.” (Mark 1:38; Luke 4:43) Later, after extensively training 12 apostles, Jesus instructed them: “As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’” (Matthew 10:7) Some months later, after training 70 others, he sent them forth with the command: “Go on telling them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” (Luke 10:9) Clearly, Jesus wanted his followers to be preachers and teachers.
Jesus continued training his disciples for this work. During the last evening before his death, he encouraged them with the words: “He that exercises faith in me, that one also will do the works that I do; and he will do works greater than these.” (John 14:12) The works of his followers would be greater than his because in their ministry they would reach far more people over a much larger area and for a greater length of time. Yet, after Jesus was killed, his disciples were paralyzed with fear. They went into hiding and did not carry on the work that he had trained them to do. Some even returned to the fishing business. However, in an unforgettable way, he impressed upon these seven what he wanted them, as well as all of his followers, to do.
Jesus materialized a human body and appeared at the Sea of Galilee. The seven apostles were out in a boat but had failed to catch any fish all night. Jesus called from the shore: “Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When the net miraculously became filled with fish to the point of bursting, those in the boat realized that it was Jesus on the shore, and they hurried to where he was waiting. After serving them breakfast, Jesus, likely looking toward the large catch of fish, asked Peter: “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:1-15) Jesus no doubt meant, Are you more attached to the fishing business than to the preaching work that I have prepared you to do?
Peter responded: “Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.” Jesus answered: “Feed my lambs.” A second time Jesus asked: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Again Peter responded, no doubt with stronger conviction: “Yes, Lord, you know I have affection for you.” Again Jesus commanded: “Shepherd my little sheep.” A third time Jesus asked: “Simon son of John, do you have affection for me?” By now Peter was really grieved. Only a few days before, he had three times denied knowing Jesus, so he may well have wondered whether Jesus doubted his loyalty. Therefore, for a third time, Peter responded, probably in pleading tones: “Lord, you know all things; you are aware that I have affection for you.” Jesus simply answered: “Feed my little sheep.” (John 21:15-17) Can there be any doubt as to what Jesus wanted Peter and his associates to do? How powerfully he impressed upon them—as well as upon any who would be his disciples today—that if they love him, they will share in the disciple-making work!
A few days after that seashore conversation, Jesus appeared at a mountain in Galilee and instructed a happy convention of about 500 followers: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 15:6) Think of it! Men, women, and children all received this same commission. Still later, just before ascending to heaven, Jesus told his disciples: “You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) After all this admonition, no wonder Peter, years later, said: “[Jesus] ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness.”—Acts 10:42.
There can be no doubt as to how we should respond to Jesus’ love. As he told his apostles: “If you observe my commandments, you will remain in my love . . . You are my friends if you do what I am commanding you.” (John 15:10-14) The question is, Will you show appreciation for the love of Jesus by obeying his command to share in the disciple-making work? True