Leaning Is Loving
Resting in Christ isn’t weakness—it’s the soul’s truest expression of love and trust.
📚 Devotional Credit: Days of Heaven on Earth by A.B. Simpson
📸 Photo Credit: Unsplash
What does it really mean to love Jesus? According to today’s reflection from A.B. Simpson, it means to lean. Not just a polite tilt or cautious dependence—but a full resting of all that we are on all that He is. The quote from the missionary encounter cuts deep: “If you love me, lean hard.” There’s something intimate, even vulnerable, in trusting someone enough to let your weight fall onto them. This is exactly what Jesus invites: a love that proves itself through restful surrender, not nervous reserve.
John leaned on Jesus' chest during supper—not just for closeness, but as an act of dependence and nourishment. He leaned and fed. In this, we find a secret of the abiding life: our feeding comes from our resting. His life flows most clearly into us when we stop striving to manage our own and allow ourselves to be supported, moment by moment, by Him.
This can happen in a conversation where our mind rushes to fix or defend—and instead, we pause and lean inwardly on Christ, allowing His Spirit to give us our next word. It’s there, in the quiet lean, that the life of Jesus becomes not just theology, but nourishment.
🕊 Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
Lean on Me, My beloved. I am not calling you to carry your day but to enter into Mine. I bore your burdens before you felt their weight. I manage what overwhelms you before it even reaches your eyes. What I desire is not your effort, but your trust—not your performance, but your presence.
Do not hold yourself upright in your own wisdom or will. Rest fully into Me, even when nothing outwardly changes. When your heart yields, My peace governs. When your soul leans, My life flows. As you draw near, I feed you—not with words only, but with Myself.
The wilderness no longer defines you. I have brought you forth to lean, to love, and to live from the One who is your Beloved. My breast is your place of rest. My table is your daily bread. And My presence is your home.
(John 13:23; Song of Songs 8:5; 1 Peter 5:7; John 6:56-57; Matthew 11:28-30)
🪞 Real-Life Analogy
It’s like shifting all your weight into a hammock. At first, you hesitate, tense, unsure if it’ll hold. But the moment you surrender your weight, the fabric cradles you, and your muscles release their guard. That’s what it feels like to lean into Christ’s indwelling life—to stop bracing and start trusting. It’s in that surrender that your soul exhales and finds its rhythm again.
🙏 Prayer of Confidence
Jesus, I lean into You—not in part, but with the full weight of who I am. I trust You with every unseen need, every tangled situation, every hidden ache. You are not only willing to carry me, but eager to. Thank You for being my rest, my nourishment, and my place of belonging. I walk through this day, not on my own two feet, but leaning entirely on You—and that is enough.