Loving God
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37–38)
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25–26)
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:23)
To know God is to love God.
When God is seen as abounding in love and when we catch a glimpse of the great love for us God expressed in the sacrifice of His one and only Son, we will love Him deeply, intensely, sacrificially, and intentionally. What does it mean, exactly, to love the Lord, however? How do we express this love in all our daily living?
First, get to know God experientially and through the pages of the Bible. Read of the love God’s people had for Him and accept the invitation to love Him in the same way. Intend to have a heart like that of the psalmist quoted above who said, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You.” Embrace that heart posture that declares even in heaven, there is only One object of your affection and that the whole earth contains nothing that you’d desire more than the Lord. Express your personal love for God in prayer and receive His love in the silent spaces of your prayers.
Second, obey His commands. Not a single command of the Lord is outside our reach. Often, we may question whether obedience leads to love or whether love leads to obedience. You may find that both statements are true. As your love for God deepens, you may find your desire to obey His word deepens as well. However, you may also find that when you obey His commands, you experience God more fully and discover His great love for you.
But there is no greater love expressed to you and to us all than that of the love Jesus showed on the cross.
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9–10)
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Perhaps the greatest act of love for God is that we sacrifice our lives for Him. Notice what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.” There is this idea that all who believe in Jesus and love Him offer their lives as a living sacrifice in return. We see the world differently through a lens of love and eternity. We, out of our great love for God, say to Him, “How can I serve You today, Lord?” And in that service and sacrifice, we express a glimpse of the same love Jesus gave for His Father and for us all on the cross.
One thing is for sure: you will never exhaust your search for loving God more deeply. Only when we see Him face to face will we fully realize how deep and complete our love is for God.